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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
5 dead, 59 injured in Samal accident
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- Five people were confirmed dead while 59 were injured when a 10-wheeler truck loaded with people lost its brakes and smashed onto a hill in the Island Garden City of Samal Sunday afternoon.
Cleto Gales, Igacos city administrator, said the private truck with plate number LGL 194, and allegedly registered under the name of Davao City councilor Diosdado Mahipus, was loaded with people who attended a gathering at the Samal Cultural Gymnasium on Sunday.
Driver Gideon Bahian, 53, was cruising along Sitio Nabunturan, Barangay Bandera around 4:30 p.m. when the accident happened.
Gales said the truck could have fallen into a deep ravine had the driver not smashed it onto a hill.
Killed were Merelyn Noquera, 39; Roniel Aque, 16; Mario Malinao, 45; Christopher Malinao; and Rizaldy Coliandres, a resident of Barangay San Remigio.
Forty-eight of the 59 injured were treated at the Davao Medical Center (DMC), while 11 were sent to the Samal District Hospital.
As of press time, 37 of those admitted at DMC were already discharged. Four of the victims were said to be in critical condition.
Meanwhile, a small plane of the Lapanday Foods Corporation crashed at a banana plantation on Sunday in Davao del Sur while on a regular dusting operation.
Gerry Ongkingco, Lapanday's senior group manager for human resources, said the single seater turbo thrush plane RPR 2463 was on its routine operation when it crashed in one of their farms in Malalag. The turbo-thrust sprayer was recently acquired from Australia.
The pilot, Capt. Felix Cabardo died in the crash. He was the lone fatality.
Cabardo's body was taken to Angel Funeral Parlor in Digos City and transferred to Davao City for autopsy by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Sr. Supt. Samuel Navaja, Davao del Sur police provincial director, however, revealed the plane got entangled with the wires of the National Power Corporation (Napocor) around 6:20 a.m.
Ongkingco said they are presently investigating the incident along with Air Transportation Office (ATO) official to determine the cause of the crash.
In Benguet, five policemen and five other civilians in Abra province were seriously injured in two separate explosions that rocked the province over the weekend.
A belated report reaching the Police Regional Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO-CAR) said the first explosion occurred on Saturday when the five policemen were trying to recover two hand grenades from a mentally deranged man in Bangued town.
The injured policemen were named as Senior Police Officer 2 Ernie Heruela, Police Officer 3 Romeo Tubera and Police Officers 2 Roque Bernal, Aldrin Alipio and Robert Bringas.
Three civilians--Abraham Pastores, 28; Russel Bernal, 42; and Efren Garcia, 46--who were near the explosion site, were also hurt. All eight were rushed to the Abra Provincial Hospital for treatment.
Senior Supt. Eugene Martin, PRO-CAR chief of staff, said the suspect, identified as Noli Gascon Collado, 40, single, is now under the custody of the Bangued Municipal Police Station.
Martin said the injured policemen received a call from a concerned citizen that a deranged man was playing with two grenades inside a restaurant along Magallanes Street in Zone 5, Bangued.
Immediately proceeding to the area, the policemen cornered the deranged man and tried to grab the grenades but one of them fell off the ground and exploded.
The other grenade was also recovered from the crime scene.BOT/Kara Ahorro of Sun.Star Davao and Harley Palangchao of Sun.Star Baguio
(January 13, 2004 issue)
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