2 dead in Zamboanga City accident

COTABATO CITY — A motorist died instantly while his companion also passed away a few minutes later after their speeding motorcycle hit a roadside concrete electric post in Zamboanga City at about midnight Sunday.

In separate initial reports on Monday, the Zamboanga City Police Office and the Police Regional Office-9, identified the fatalities as Arnel Deluna, who died on the spot, and his companion, Alemar Baricuatro, who also succumbed to injuries while being transported by emergency responders to a hospital.

Deluna and Baricuatro were both from Pagadian City, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur, and were employees of a sardine canning factory in Zamboanga City, according to police officials.

Police investigators and relatives of Deluna and Baricuatro have a common theory that they were possibly both drunk, supposedly on their way home when the motorcycle they were riding hit the power post in one side of Calle Pilar in Ayala Zone 8 area in Zamboanga City.