4 dead as tricycle collides with van in Sipalay

BACOLOD CITY— Four persons, including a 4-year-old girl and a public school teacher, were killed while seven were wounded in a collision of a tricycle and a van carrying a corpse in a village in Sipalay City on Wednesday.

Killed on the spot were tricycle passengers Janet Fiel, 25, and her daughter, Samantha, 4; and teacher Judy Estelita, 33, of San Jose, Sipalay City.

Keff Darryn Jayupelin, 16, also a tricycle passenger, died on the way to the Cauayan District Hospital, police said.

Police said Fiel came from an Internet cafe in Sipalay City where she chatted online with her husband, a seaman.

Estelita was set to celebrate her first wedding anniversary  on July 24.

According to PO3 Glyn Galilea, Sipalay City police traffic division chief, tricycle driver Lorenzo Balaghay Jr. lost control of the vehicle after the overloaded tricycle hit a pothole.

The tricycle collided with a van owned by the Sipalay City government, said Galilea.

The van, which was carrying a corpse that it picked up from this city, fell on its side.

The van driver, Alexander Garfil, was detained at the Sipalay police station. Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas