2 dead in another highway mishap in North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO - Two more commuters were killed while five others were badly injured in another highway accident in the province on Wednesday night, just three days after five jeepney passengers perished in a mishap.

The two fatalities, Angeline Anjao and Edith Butal, who were passengers of a multi-cab hit that figured in a high-speed collision with a sport utility vehicle (SUV) along the highway in Barangay Batasan in Makilala town.

The driver of the SUV, Jovani Palejado, has voluntarily surrendered to the Makilala municipal police and turned in his driver’s license and the registration papers of his vehicle.

The multi-cab’s injured driver, Hemerito Gayunan, and five other passengers hurt in the accident, April Elat, Nazel Companyun, Bernardino Jeralde, Catherine Rafols and Diane Coligado, were rushed by responding local officials and policemen to different hospitals.

The accident was preceded by Monday’s collision of a jeepney and a dump truck in Matalam town that left five passengers dead and 25 others injured.

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, bound for North Cotabato’s Pikit town where they were supposed to attend a relative’s wedding.

The jeepney driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle when its brakes malfunctioned along a highway in Malamote District and slammed into a dump truck coming from the opposite lane of the highway.

Colonia said two jeepney passengers, Jobaida Abdulhawab, 50, and Talutawan Kungan, 60 died on the spot while three others, who were injured in the accident, Guiamela Talutawan, 50, Rebecca Litugan, 40, and driver Juhanel Bansuan, 29, died while undergoing treatment.