CHARGES for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and damage to properties was filed Saturday, November 12, 2022, against a jeepney driver for the deaths of his three passengers and the injuries of 36 others, including a seven-month-old boy, following a deadly road crash in Calatrava town, Negros Occidental Friday, November 11.
Calatrava police chief Major Lumayen Lidawan said the charges will be filed against Jose Jequito Florencondia, 53, of Carbajosa Street in the town’s Barangay Suba.
Around 2 p.m. Friday, Florencondia was navigating a downhill curve along the Secondary National Highway of Sitio Proper, Barangay Malatas when his brakes malfunctioned, causing it to crash into a gemelina tree.
The jeep also rammed into a store and two motorcycles parked beside the road, the police said.
Killed in the accident were Rutchell Visitacion, 32, of Sitio Dugma in Barangay Malatas; Elma Baynosa, 72, of Sitio Baybayon in Barangay Hilub-ang, and Aranita Agravante, 63, of Sitio Hinagdanan in Barangay Hinab-ongan, all of the town, police records showed.
They died upon arrival at the Calatrava Municipal Hospital.
Lidawan said 16 of the injured passengers, who were also brought to the same hospital, needed an X-ray while five others were transferred to a different hospital.
Three, including the infant, were still under observation and 12 were outpatients as they only had minor injuries, Lidawan said.