BACOLOD CITY – Five people died while eight others were injured in separate road accidents in Negros Occidental this week.
In Cadiz City, two persons died while six others were injured after they were pinned under a truck when it fell into a muddy breakwater in Barangay Banquerohan on Sunday.
Police identified the fatalities as Eric Esacala and Nicolas Pagonsan.
Injured were truck driver Erlito Tributante, 51, and his passengers — Edmar Dela Peña, 44; Rolly Sinogbuhan, 39; Paz Alpay, 59; Vicente Albos, 54; and Jake Pasilan, 25, police said.
Lt. Col. Robert Mansueto, city police chief, said Tributante was supposed to bring his passengers to work when they met the accident.
Mansueto said that the alleged speeding truck was on its way to the city proper when Tributante lost control of the vehicle and swerved to the roadside until its passengers fell into a breakwater.
He said that it took 30 minutes for rescuers to remove the vehicle using a boom truck.
The two casualties died of drowning while their other companions sustained injuries and were rushed to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) here. They are now in stable condition, he added.
He said they are waiting for the decision of the victims’ families for the filing of charges against Tributante.
In Kabankalan City, Robert Rama, 19, and Jerome Apinan, 16, both residents of Barangay Salong died while their 16-year-old companion was injured after their motorcycle was hit by a truck driven by 50-year-old Jonathan Gallano in the said village last Friday.
The three victims fell from their motorcycles and were rushed to a hospital, where Rama and Apinan were declared dead.
In Candoni town, Villamor Santiago, 19, of Barangay Banga died while his companion John Louie Alegria, 18, was injured in a collision of two motorcycles along Haba bridge in the said village that day. Alegria sustained injuries and was taken into CLMMRH here. (Glazyl Masculino)
