A six-wheeler truck, with an apparent drunk driver on the wheel, plowed into two motorcycles and a motorized tricycle Sunday night, killing seven, including three children, and injuring four, police reported yesterday.
Freddie Talisayan, the driver, was collared by angry residents after the truck he was driving – a Mitsubishi vehicle with plate number YDY 562 – hit a cemented wall, according to Supt. Lemuel Gonda, spokesman of the Northern Mindanao Regional Police Office (PRO-10).
The accident took place at 9 p.m. at the Cugman National Highway.
The truck, which came from Tablon village on its way to the city center, first hit the motorcycle, killing all four passengers, including the driver.
They were 46-year-old Ronnie Visandre Abio and his three children Kenneth, 10; Stephanie, 7; and Sophia, 5.
Instead of stopping, the suspect accelerated and collided with a “motorela”, a motor taxi driven by 27-year-old Kevin Bagolor Felicida.
Felicida and two other passengers – Kristel Anne Moldez, 30; and Runie Acas Llubia, 44; survived, but Mae Bonior, 17; and Vanessa Tadles, 29; were killed.
The truck then hit another motorcycle, killing the back rider identified as Vevine Nacaya, 23. Kurt Buhawe Angel, the 22-year-old driver, was injured.
Gonda said Felix Talisayan, the truck helper and half brother of the driver, told him that the truck was travelling 100 kilometers per hour at the time of the accident.
Felix said his brother insisted on driving despite being under the influence of liquor.
(With report from Superbalita Cagayan de Oro) (FRANCIS T. WAKEFIELD)
