1 killed, 15 hurt in separate road mishaps in NCotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - A motorist was killed while 15 others were badly injured in two separate vehicular accidents in North Cotabato Sunday.

The fatality, Greg Batrina, died on the spot when his motorcycle collided head-on with a passenger van while at a secluded stretch of a highway in Brgy. Kiya-ab in Antipas, a hinterland town in North Cotabato.

Ramil Fajardo, the driver of the passenger van, bearing license plates MVZ 241, immediately yielded to the Antipas municipal police and turned in his driver’s license and vehicle registration papers.

The road mishap that resulted to the death of Batrina came just two hours after 15 people were badly injured when a mini-school bus plunged into a 40-foot ravine along a highway in Brgy. Katipunan in Arakan, also in North Cotabato.

The victims were on their way to a beach resort in Davao City from Bukidnon when the driver of their vehicle, Jessie Gabriel, lost control while maneuvering at downhill curve.

The chairman of Brgy. Katipunan, Maximo Bragat, said the responding policemen and soldiers managed to immediately evacuate Gabriel and his 14 passengers to different hospitals.

Bragat said the injured passengers are all teachers of a school in Valencia City in Bukidnon.