2 killed, 57 hurt in Quezon zigzag road accident

Atimonan town in Quezon province (Wikipedia maps)

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Two drivers were killed and 57 other people were hurt in an accident that involved a passenger bus and a trailer truck in Atimonan town in Quezon province Sunday midnight, police said.

While negotiating a sharp curved portion of the diversion road, the driver of a trailer truck lost control of his vehicle that consequently fell on its left side and slid in Barangay (village) Malinao Ylaya at around 12 midnight, Major Michael Encio, Atimonan police chief, said in a report Monday.

The wayward truck subsequently hit the approaching Manila-bound Mark Eve’s passenger bus.

The vehicles’ drivers, who were not identified in the report, died on the spot.

At least 57 others: bus passengers and a truck helper, suffered injuries and were taken by rescuers from the Atimonan local government to different hospital and clinics in the locality.

The report said the reliever driver of the ill-fated bus was still missing.

Authorities discourage trucks and buses from using the Atimonan zigzag road and direct them to take the Maharlika Highway diversion road linking Manila and Bicol Monday. (Editor: Cenon B. Bibe Jr.)