Farmer killed, 3 kids hurt in Maharlika Highway accident in Quezon

A person was killed and three children were injured in a road accident along the Maharlika Highway in Calauag, Quezon, early Thursday, police said.

Chief Inspector Noel Divino, Calauag police chief, said a Manila-bound Toyota Hi-Ace Grandia van (CNN-210) was traversing the highway along the village of Viñas at around 6:40 a.m. when it sideswiped the victims, who were then walking on the side of the road.

One of the victims, farmer Ruben Divena Gracia, 33, died on the spot, said Divino in text message.

The three other victims – Nestor Mabilangan Jr. 11; and siblings Ivan Divena Gracia, 9, and Ejay Divena Gracia, 7, all students on their way to school – were seriously injured and were rushed by the villagers to the Saint Peter General Hospital in the town proper of Calauag, about 18 kilometers from the accident site.

Divino said the driver of the van, identified as Subedden Salic Lomondot, surrendered to the police and has been detained at the town police jail.

The now well-paved 150-km Maharlika Highway in Quezon runs from the Quezon-Laguna boundary in Tiaong town down to Calauag town in the Quezon-Bicol boundary.