2 dead as truck crushes car in Pasig

MANILA, Philippines - Two people died when a 22-wheeler trailer truck’s brakes failed and the truck ended up crushing a car against the wall of a subdivision in Pasig City before dawn yesterday.

The car’s occupants – Donnovan Capa, 32, and Beverly Victoriano, 17 – were pinned in the car and died at the scene, rescue workers said. Capa was behind the wheel while Victoriano was in the front passenger seat.

The girl had just been discharged from a hospital and was reportedly still wearing a wrist tag for patients when the accident occurred.

Police officers arrested Aaron Gutierrez, 27, the trailer truck’s driver.  

Senior Superintendent Jose Hidalgo Jr., Pasig City police chief, ordered the filing of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and damage to property charges against Gutierrez.

He said the victims were in a Honda Civic (ZDT-724) waiting for the green light at the intersection of Lanuza and Ortigas Avenues at around 2 a.m. The victims were eastbound.

Witnesses said they saw the trailer truck, loaded with two 20-footer shipping containers, being driven at high speed before it hit a six-wheeler truck (CSM-280) beside the Civic.

Gutierrez swerved the truck to the right, hitting the Civic then dragging it some meters until the two vehicles hit the concrete wall of Valle Verde 3 Subdivision, according to traffic investigator Police Officer 3 Edwin Cruz.

Gutierrez told Cruz that he pulled on the hand and trailer brakes to stop the truck, but he knew he would still hit the vehicles in front of him.

“I hit the truck so no other vehicles would be hit. I did not know there was another vehicle,” he said in Filipino.

The trailer truck was carrying 20 tons of sugar worth P18 million.

Personnel from the city’s rescue unit, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Bureau of Fire Protection pulled out the victims’ bodies from the wreckage using hydraulic equipment.

The accident caused a traffic gridlock in the area and it took authorities several hours to resolve the mess and tow the vehicles to the MMDA impounding area in Barangay Ugong.