By GLENDALE NAZARIO, With report from Alexandria Dennise San Juan
A car plummeted from the fifth floor of a building in Sta. Cruz, Manila Friday night, killing the lone lady occupant.
Police identified the fatality as Marie Emmanuelle Calderon, a 34-year-old call center trainee from Barangay Daang-bakal, Mandaluyong City.
Fortunately, the street was deserted when the car, a Suzuki Swift, hit the pavement, roof first, almost flattening the vehicle.
The incident took place at around 11:35 p.m. at Vertez One building in Yuseco corner Feliz Huertas streets.
Calderon was rushed to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center where she was declared dead on arrival at 1:47 a.m.
A witness, who asked not to be named, said he noticed something wrong when he saw debris falling off the building.
“Tumingala ako sa taas. Nakita ko ‘yung kotse na binabangga yung pader na patalikod,” he narrated.
He said he also saw some people whom he presumed to be trying to stop the victim from hitting the glass wall.
After the crash, the witness said he heard the victim calling for help as office workers rushed out of the building.
It took almost two hours for rescuers to get the victim out of the car using hydraulic tools, according to the witness.
A rescuer from the fire department said he did not detect a pulse from the victim when they finally pulled her out of the crushed vehicle.
The 15-floor building was built in 2009 within an office complex known as the Manila Jockey Club-Ayala Land Corporate Centre. Aside from the carpark, it houses several offices, including Convergys Philippines, a major call center company.
Police have yet to rule the case as suicide, although the victim’s posts in her Facebook account suggest she is nursing a broken heart.
In her last post on Thursday, the day before she died, Calderon wrote:
“When everyone in the world is struggling to survive, there is one person who will carelessly tell you to die and will leave you thinking what freakin harm you did to them for you to deserve it even when you love them whole heartedly,” she said.
Accompanied in the post were two photos: A screen shot of the exchange of messages from a mobile phone and a photo of a male person.
In a previous post on the same day, the victim posted a photo which reads: “I am just a girl. Standing infront of a boy. Asking him to love her.”
