FIVE people were killed, while another was injured in a three-vehicle smash-up in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, the police reported Friday, September 25.

Police Captain Edwin Duco, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula information officer, said the incident happened around 4:40 p.m. Thursday, September 24, in the boundaries of Paradise and Esperanza village, Ramon Magsaysay, Zamboanga del Sur.

Duco identified the fatalities as Reny Nacis, 41, a fish merchant driving a tricycle; Dennis Bentosa, 36, assistant of a prime mover truck; Reynaldo Hijara, 31, driver of a 10-wheeler cargo truck; and Kenny Jay Ferolin, 24, and Danilo Tangub Jr., 24, both assistants of Hijara.

Injured was Joel A. Suerte, 49, the driver of the prime mover truck.

Investigation showed that the 10-wheeler truck, driven by Hijara and fully-loaded with garlic, sideswiped a tricycle carrying fish boxes driven by Nacis while traversing from Cagayan de Oro City to Molave, Zamboanga del Sur.

The 10-wheeler truck then bumped into the rear of the prime mover truck that was carrying an empty container van and driven by Suerte some 230 meters away from the site of the first collision.

Duco said the tricycle and 10-wheeler turned upside down, while the prime mover truck was pinned at the roadside. The container van fell into a cliff as a result of the collisions.

Duco said that all of the people aboard the three vehicles, except Suerte, died instantaneously due to the collisions' impact.

He said Suerte was hospitalized. (SunStar Zamboanga)