In the first incident, Northern Traffic Enforcement Group (NTEG) officials identified the victims as Jaime Paredes Sr., 56, jeepney driver, his live-in partner Mila Corales, 52, both of San Roque, Navotas; Mary Jane Villaflor, 30, of San Jose, Navotas, and a still unnamed woman, all on board the ill-fated passenger jeepney.
Chief Inspector Filemon Porciuncula, Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) medico-legal officer who autopsied the victims, said Paredes broke both legs and suffered brain hemorrhage and a ruptured aorta.
Corales, who bore the brunt of the impact, had her face bashed in, so badly she could not be recognized and was identified by relatives only by the clothes she wore.
Villaflor succumbed to internal bleeding of the head while the teenaged victim died after a wayward steel bar went through her right temple piercing her brain.
Also injured in the same incident were Charlie Timog, 44, pedicab driver, of 4002 LRTB Maypajo, Caloocan City and Timog’s passenger Racquel de la Cruz, 23, of Balut, Tondo, Manila, who just happened to be traveling in the same direction.
The still unidentified driver of the trailer cab (DXC-459) owned by KTC Trucking escaped soon after the incident and remains at large.
Traffic investigators said the accident occurred as the Navotas-bound trailer cab was seen racing against another tractor head at around 8:30 p.m. as it went up the Marana Bridge along H. Lopez Boulevard in Navotas.
The jeepney went under the truck’s head, its dashboard pushed inward from the impact pinning Paredes and Corales on the front seat.
About two hours later, two black scooters racing against each other along McArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela rammed against a Monumento-bound Ford Fiera (WGB-428) one after the other resulting in the death of Jeric Pangilinan. A severely injured Arnel Tuazon was also taken to an undisclosed hospital. — With Pete Laude