2 more die after truck, jeepney collision in Matalam

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines  --- Three more passengers of a jeepney that collided with a dump truck in Matalam town Tuesday died in a hospital Wednesday dawn, bringing to five the number of fatalities in the accident.

Chief Inspector Elias Colonia of the Matalam municipal police said 17 of the 25 jeepney passengers injured in the collision are still undergoing medication in different hospitals.

The victims, mostly from Buluan town in Maguindanao and all related to each other by blood, were on board the ill-fated jeepney that figured in the accident, while bound for North Cotabato’s Pikit town, where they were to attend a relative’s wedding.

Jeepney driver Juhanel Bansuan, 29, reportedly lost control of the vehicle when its brakes malfunctioned while at stretch of a highway in Malamote District in Matalam and slammed into a dump truck coming from the opposite end of the highway. 

Colonia said two jeepney passengers, Jobaida Abdulhawab, 50, and Talutawan Kungan, 60, both died on the spot.

Three others, who were injured in the accident, Guiamela Talutawan, 50, Rebecca Litugan, 40, and driver Bansuan, succumbed while in a hospital several hours later.

Dump truck driver Salahudin Baliwan voluntarily yielded to the Matalam police.

Colonia said Baliwan had also turned in his driver’s license and the dump truck’s registration papers to investigators.