Tuesday, April 10, 2007 Car falls into ravine: 2 dead By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A FATHER and a son died when the car they were riding caught fire before it plunged down a 300-foot ravine in Sitio Maaslom, Barangay Busay, Cebu City yesterday morning.
The death of the father and son, who remained unidentified as of press time, was the third vehicular incident in two days in the city that left seven people dead.
The boy, about nine to 14 years old, died at noon while his father died 13 minutes later at the Perpetual Succour Hospital where they were taken by the rescuers.
The tragedy occurred at 9:40 a.m., according to witnesses.
Dr. Carlo Carrido, the attending physician, was quoted in a dyLA report that the two died of severe burn injuries.
The boy also suffered a head injury.
The Land Transportation Office 7 records show that the car, a white Hyundai Excel with plate number GTS 826, was registered to one Saturnino Plaza of Balamban, Cebu.
However, the Cebu City Traffic Section is yet to determine if it was Plaza who was driving the car.
Privacy
Around 5 p.m. yesterday, the fatalities were identified and claimed by his wife and relatives.
The family, through Dr. Pureza Oñate, Perpetual Succour’s medical director, requested for privacy. The family also refused to disclose the names of the victims.
Based on the information gathered by Busay Barangay Captain Eliodoro Sanchez from witnesses Ted del Mar and Darby Arcillo, son of barangay councilman Douglas, the car was traveling downhill “on normal speed” to the city center when it suddenly appeared to have lost control.
“It looked like the car was on a practice drive and then it suddenly lost control,” Sanchez said, narrating the information relayed to him by Arcillo, who was in a vehicle following the victims’ car.
The car exploded before it fell down the ravine.
Del Mar, who owns an automotive and vulcanizing shop near the area where the accident happened, told Sun.Star Cebu that he heard two more explosions when the car stopped falling.
Del Mar said he and Darby rushed down to save the persons inside the car. At least 10 barangay tanods, who heard the explosion, also went down.
Burning car
When they arrived at the scene, they spotted the father trying to get out from the burning car with his son.
“The boy kept shouting for help. He kept saying, ‘My papa, my papa.’ We almost could not go near them because of the huge flames,” del Mar said.
They were able to take the boy out of the car and ran uphill for him to be taken to a hospital.
Del Mar said the incident could have been triggered by a mechanical problem, leaking, or grounded wiring.
Rescuers from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) and from the Central Visayas Search and Rescue (Cevsar) Team and a fire truck from the Bureau of Fire Protection later arrived after the call for assistance from Sanchez.
Sanchez said steep terrain made it difficult for the rescuers to get down and retrieve the father.
The rescuers used two rolls of rope, 150 feet long each, to lift the father, who was placed on a plyboard, Sanchez said.
They found a cellular phone and a wallet but these can no longer be used to identify the victims because these were burned.
Sanchez said the site is not an accident-prone area but he recognized the need to put up roadside railings.
He said he is planning to ask the Department of Public Works and Highways to help him put up the railings for the safety of road users.
Yesterday’s incident, Sanchez said, was the second as far as he could remember. The first incident was two years ago, but it was only a minor accident.
Rescue teams
Sanchez is planning to organize a barangay rescue team so that his tanods will have a formal training with the Eruf and Cevsar and will know how to respond to accidents.
Last Sunday at about 2:30 a.m., four persons died while three others were injured after a speeding car hit a gutter, hurtled on to an electric post, and spun a few times before stopping at the corner of Gorordo Ave. and Sunset Drive in Barangay Lahug.
Hours later, a van-for-hire from Balamban town bumped and killed 60-year-old Antonietta Cadampog Arcillo in the mountain barangay of Pung-ol Sibugay.
