2 hurt as garbage truck falls off Dagupan road

DAGUPAN CITY — Two persons were injured on Friday morning when a city government-owned garbage truck fell off an elevated road here, police said.

Michael Ibasan, 27, and Edwin dela Cruz, 34, both passengers of the truck, were immediately taken to a hospital for treatment.

Truck driver Ronald Ramos, 51, said he was traversing the southbound lane of the De Venecia Highway about 5:30 a.m. when he avoided a dangling electric wire, prompting him to swerve to the right side of the road.

But he lost control of his vehicle, crashing it into the road’s concrete barriers and eventually falling into the river bank.

On the same spot about 15 minutes later, a bus of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) was rear-ended by another PMA bus after it suddenly stopped to avoid the dangling electric wire.

No bus passenger was hurt in the accident, according to Police Chief Master Sergeant Salvador Cacho, Dagupan City police investigator.

The buses were carrying PMA employees and were headed to a western Pangasinan town.

Jojo Liwag, retail services chief of the Dagupan Electric Corp. (Decorp), said the dangling wire did not belong to their company.

He said Decorp’s electric posts were far from the highway and these consisted of high-voltage primary lines. Gabriel Cardinoza