COTABATO CITY — Ten individuals, including two preschool children, died while 13 others were injured when the dump truck carrying them plunged into a cliff in Barangay Christianuevo in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat on Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were on their way home to Barangay Senditan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte from a “salangguni,” a traditional setting of the marriage via an Islamic rite, when they figured in the accident.
Officials of the Lebak Municipal Police Station and local executives told reporters on Thursday that the 10 passengers of the dump truck, the ethnic Maguindanaons Tods S. Mamintal, Tahir L. Nakan, Abylyn M. Sahipa, Aling M. Sahipa, Muhammad P. Digan, Muhammad B. Macarimbang, Ramon L. Manoo, Moner T. Abdullah and two children, died from serious injuries caused by the accident.
Senior employees of the Lebak Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office had separately told reporters that the highway mishap left 13 others, Saidamin D. Omar, Umbos K. Uteng, Musib L. Nakan, Benz S. Takpan, Ayreen S. Takpan, Haya G. Matabalao, Ibrahim O. Ambolodto, Arbaina O. Ambolodto Johair K. Omar, Alvin M. Adam, Morsalin Y. Degan, Aiman W. Pending and Haya K. Bansalan, badly injured.
They were immediately transported by emergency responders to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City, about a hundred kilometers away, for treatment.
Officials of the Lebak police force and the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office had reported to Brig. Gen. Romeo J. Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-12, that the driver of the dump truck was maneuvering through an uphill stretch of the Cotabato-Lebak Highway in Barangay Christiannuevo when he lost control of the wheel due to a mechanical trouble.
Citing accounts of witnesses, barangay officials told reporters that the dump truck first veered towards the side of the highway, flipped, and repeatedly rolled over as it fell into the deep ravine along the route. — John Felix M. Unson
