1 killed, 18 hurt in Central Mindanao road mishap

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -  A Catholic church worker was killed on Saturday while 18 others were injured in another deadly vehicular accident in Central Mindanao, the third accident since March.

Eighteen commuters were killed in two earlier accidents involving speeding passenger vans in Pikit, North Cotabato, and in Parang, Maguindanao.

Church worker Angelita Ceballos, 30, and her companions were on their way to Makilala, Cotabato to attend a thanksgiving mass for a newly ordained priest when their vehicle collided head-on with a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck at a busy stretch of a national highway in Tacurong City.

Ceballos, of Datu Piang town in Maguindanao, died from injuries in the head and torso.

Supt. Junny Buenacosa, Tacurong City police director, 18 other companions of Ceballos on board the ill-fated Toyota passenger van were injured in the collision.

The victims were rushed to different hospitals in Tacurong City for medication.