At least a dozen people die as truck falls off ravine in South Cotabato

Rescue workers from Tboli municipal disaster risk reduction and management council try to save one of the critically injured passengers of an ill-fated cargo truck that fell of a cliff in South Cotabato Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. Photo courtesy of T’boli MDRRMO

KORONADAL CITY— At least a dozen people were killed after a truck fell off a ravine Tuesday morning in a remote village of T’boli, South Cotabato.

T’boli Mayor Dibu Tuan told the Inquirer his men counted 16 bodies on the spot where the vehicle fell, some 100 meters down from the road.

But a report from the South Cotabato police said the death toll has already reached 20. According to police, 15 people died instantly at the scene while the five others died in various hospitals.

Meanwhile, 11 injured victims were rushed to the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital, one at Upper Valley Community Hospital, one at Landero Clinic and Hospital, and another one at a hospital in nearby Surallah town.

Rescue workers from Tboli municipal disaster risk reduction and management council try to save one of the critically injured passengers of an ill-fated cargo truck that fell of a cliff in South Cotabato Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. Photo courtesy of T’boli MDRRMO

Jerry Magbanua, T’boli municipal social welfare officer, told the Inquirer the incident occurred at 9:45 a.m. while the victims were heading home from a night beach party in General Santos City.

Colonel Joel Limson, South Cotabato police director, said the accident happened in the boundary of Barangays Lamsalome and Lambangan in T’boli town.

Limson said the local police and workers of the provincial and municipal disaster risk reduction management councils have arrived in the area to verify the incident. /lzb/kga