ONE person died and 16 others were hurt when an unmanned fire truck crashed into them in Circulo Ticad, Bantayan town, Bantayan Island, northern Cebu on Thursday evening, March 21, 2024.
The fatality was identified as Roberto Lim Toñacao, of legal age.
The firemen were busy putting out the fire, when a fire truck, which was parked nearby, drove itself off the road and collided with a vehicle and several persons.
Lieutenant Colonel Leo Ty, chief of Bantayan Police Station, told SunStar Cebu that 37-year-old driver of the fire truck, Bartolome Bacolod, claimed to have applied the hand brake and placed wheel chocks, but wondered why the truck moved.
Ty said that Madridejos Mayor Romeo Villaceran had already given P25,000 financial assistance to the family of deceased and P10,000 to each of the three individuals who were critically injured.
According to Bantayan Fire Investigator Senior Fire Officer 3 Arclet Malito Purok, the fire destroyed two houses and damaged two more.
Firefighters estimated the damage at P760,000. (DVG, TPT)