1 dead in seven-vehicle smashup

CEBU, Philippines - A man was killed while at least three others were injured following a multiple collision involving seven vehicles waiting for the go signal at corner Canduman Road and Cebu North Road in Mandaue City yesterday afternoon.

The Mandaue City Traffic Division said their investigation revealed the collision started when a ten-wheeler truck of the Yuson Construction & Supply based in Barangay Jubay, Liloan town, lost its brakes and hit the left rear portion of a passenger multicab.

The passenger multicab went forward to hit the right rear portion of a private multicab that also hit a pickup multicab.

The driver of the pickup multicab, lawyer Rogelio Yaun, of Medellin town, and his son Francis, 28, were seriously injured after their vehicle also hit an Isuzu Elf delivery truck of Du Ek Sam Trading that was carrying motorcycles.

The said delivery truck also damaged two other cars waiting for the go signal.

Yaun later died in the hospital.

Police also said multicab passengers Gilbert Baliguat, Ludilyn Sotto and her three-year-old daughter Lara Jane Sotto were injured during the incident.

The ten-wheeler truck went on its way and eventually stopped around 500 meters away in Consuelo Village in Barangay Basak, Mandaue City.

Victorino Bitoon, the driver of the truck, is currently detained at the Basak Police station. He denied he tried to run away and said he really planned to surrender at the Basak Police station just a few meters away from where the accident happened.

He said after losing his brakes he tried to evade hitting other vehicles but lost control of the truck.

Bitoon will remain in detention pending further investigation into the incident. 

Meanwhile, a man died while three others were injured in a vehicular accident along the National Highway in Barangay Poblacion, Barili town, last Monday evening.

Annex John Davon, 15, of Sitio Daro of the same barangay was declared dead on arrival at the Barili District Hospital where he was rushed due to severe head injuries after he was thrown off his motorcycle and hit a Gmelina tree.

Davon’s companions Jason Bayaton and Junel Guivengcan were also taken to the same hospital as well as John Mark Bayno, 12. They were later transferred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City due to leg fractures.

Police said disclosed that Bayaton, Guivengcan and Davon were on a Honda XRM motorcycle without a plate number traveling from Dumanjug town when they hit Bayno who was walking along the road and were thrown from the vehicle. 

Witnesses said only Davon hit the tree.

Police could still not determine who among the three drove the motorcycle since none of the survivors are still able to speak. —/BRP (FREEMAN)