FOURTEEN people, including a one-year-old baby and five other children, were hurt when the multicab they were on hit a railing beside a steep road in South Hills, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City past 10 p.m. last Saturday.
Members of Ibones family, who were in the Suzuki multicab (GPS-874), were rushed to the St. Vincent General Hospital for medication.
PO3 Edgar Baton, traffic investigator, said that the railing had saved the lives of the victims. There was a 20-foot cliff beyond it, he said.
“Mahulog unta sila sa pangpang kung wala pa to ang railing, at least nasangit ra sila (They would have fallen deeper had the cab not snagged into the railing),” Baton said.
The cab driven by Ubrey Jones Ibones was carrying his relatives identified as Breze, 1; Cheche, 11; Niel, 10; Benjamin, 59; Judith, 55; Gigi, 35; Cora, 27; Sieres Ong, 10; Mary Ann, 38; Kiss, 30; Gidon Dedamo, 6; John Michael Ondat, 14; and Regelio Escandal, 3.
There were also two other passengers, who were not hurt in the accident.
Baton’s initial investigation showed that the driver was running the vehicle at a normal speed.
“Dulhogon lang gyud na dinha, mao nang kinahanglan mag-amping lang gyud ang mga mangagi nganha (The road was so steep there, so motorists must take extra precaution when passing through it),” Baton told Sun.Star Cebu.
The family reportedly came from a restaurant located in an uphill portion of the barangay.
Baton said that Ubrey Jones may have lost control of the vehicle when the latter realized how steep the road was.