4 die, 18 hurt in tricycle-PUJ collision

ILOILO CITY, Philippines - A collision between a passenger jeepney and a tricycle claimed the lives of four persons and injury of 18 others Friday evening at Brgy. Bolong Oeste, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.

Chief Insp. Elmer Armada, chief of the Sta. Barbara Police Station, identified the fatalities as Nilma Aceña, a nurse, and Leonor Marco, both of Maasin town, and Kenneth Velasco Ducasi, of Cabatuan town---all passengers of the Maasin-bound passenger jeepney.

Among the wounded were several members of the Montefrio family who came all the way from Mindoro to spend summer vacation in Maasin.

Tricycle driver, Restituto Simura, 32, of Brgy. Binangquilan, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo died the following day while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Armada said the PUJ, driven by Dan Bueno, was traversing the highway to Maasin when the accident happened.

Bueno, who is now detained at the police station, claimed he tried to steer his vehicle to avoid hitting a bicycle he was tailing, but when he overtook the bicycle, his PUJ collided with an approaching tricycle on the opposite lane.

The victims were rushed to the Western Visayas Sanitarium Hospital in Sta. Barbara, but several of them were moved to the Western Visayas Medical Center and the Iloilo Doctors Hospital in the city. — (FREEMAN)