SLEX accident injures driver, burns van

A man was injured and a vehicle was burned during a vehicular accident early yesterday morning along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), causing a monstrous traffic jam until noontime

Senior Fire Officer Jose Bolanto Jr., Muntinlupa City Fire Department’s arson investigator, said Rudy Aninon, 35, of 221 Purok 1 TMR Landayan St., San Pedro, Laguna, sustained injuries and was brought to the Ospital ng Muntinlupa for medical treatment. He was driving a blue Mazda van with licence plates UGT-455.

Initial investigation showed that an Isuzu van, with license plates WHZ-155, driven by a certain Pejay Agarpao, of 82 Sitio Malinis Bato, Valenzuela City, was traveling along the southbound lane of SLEX, near Uratex in Muntinlupa City at around 6:15 a.m., when he lost control of the wheel trying to avoid a a car tire lying in the middle of the road. He rammed into the center island.

The vehicle behind him, a Fuso Fighter Truck, with license plates UJV-811, driven by Juanito Tolentino, rammed into his car.

"The collision might have caused the gas tank to leak and set the van on fire," Bolando said.

It took the Muntinlupa Fire Department an hour to put out the blaze.

As a result of the impact, slabs of the concrete barrier flew to the opposite direction of the SLEX causing three other vehicles headed north to collide with each other.

Police Officer 2 Joselito Quila, Traffic Management Group investigator, identified the three other vehicles as Aninon’s Mazda; an Olivares passenger bus with license plates NXL-180 driven by Rolly Olivares; and a Mitsubishi L300, with license plates UBN-755 driven by Prudencio Jayson.

The Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) said they were able to remove the vehicles only by 9 a.m.but the traffic jam along SLEX lasted until noontime yesterday reaching up to as far as Carmona from Magallanes drive.