Truck falls off ravine: 2 killed, 8 injured

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Two ambulant vendors died, and eight others were injured when their truck fell into a ravine at Brgy. Igmayaan in Don Salvador Benedicto town, Negros Occidental Saturday night.

Senior Insp. Celjun Nemenio, chief of the Don Salvador Benedicto Police, said the driver Joel Imbon, 20, lost control of the Isuzo Forward truck that fell on its side, while negotiating a downhill curve in the Purok Talos highway, considered an “accident-prone area,” for being the sites of two earlier accidents since last January.

Nemenio said the victims, ambulant vendors and residents of Brgy. Codcod in San Carlos City, were on their way to the Libertad market in Bacolod City, to sell vegetables and other agricultural produce, when the accident took place at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

The accident resulted in the death of Joseph Antiquando, 32, on the spot, and Dante Artajo, 32, who died while being treated at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City.

The driver immediately surrendered to the police and is now in jail. (FREEMAN)