19 dead, 22 hurt in Apayao crash

DOOMED The overloaded Elf truck skidded into a ravine in Conner town, Apayao province. —Police Regional Office Cordillera / contributed

TUGUEGARAO CITY—A trip back home turned tragic for 44 farmers from Cagayan province after their Elf truck fell into a 20-meter ravine in Conner town, Apayao province, killing 19 of them on Thursday, the eve of All Saints’ Day.

The victims, mostly elderly, came from Rizal town in Cagayan where they received cash aid, seeds subsidy and rice planting provisions from the Department of Agriculture through the local government there.

Twenty-two other passengers were injured and taken to Conner District Hospital and Cagayan Valley Medical Center. Three others were unscathed.

Police said the truck engine stopped and the brakes failed while driver Maytoflor Datul was negotiating a steep section of the road at Barangay Karikitan in Conner at 7:40 p.m.

This caused the truck to slide backward and plunged into the ravine, police said.

‘A miracle’

“It was an abrupt crash. It happened in seconds,” Godofredo Santos, a resident of Barangay Lattut in Rizal town, said, adding that it was “a miracle” to have survived. He suffered fractures and contusions.

According to Santos, many of his fellow passengers were also pinned under tarpaulins and sacks of rice seeds.

Ronald Apolinar, who also survived the accident, said he hugged his wife and their 6-year-old son as the truck skidded into the ravine.

Shorter route

“I just prayed hard for us to survive. Thank God, my wife and son are alive,” he said.

With 44 passengers on board and loaded with sacks of seeds and planting tools, the truck swayed as its engine stopped, and slid backward before falling into the ravine, said Police Capt. Manuel Canipas Jr., Conner police chief.

Police also said the truck took a shorter route back to Rizal town via Conner, a distance of about 50 kilometers.

Fatalities

The fatalities were Margie Pamittan, Amparo Aberion, Brenda Talay, Imelda Talay, Pacita Dajucon, Mercy Gundan, Leticia Bayaua Patay, Susana Milo, Rosemarie Molina, Hermilina Dacuycuy, Ludalina Molina, Aida Batallones, Domingo Asperela, Mamerto Milo, Conrado Sabatan, Claro Mamauag, Jason Talay, Rudy Pagtama and Reymundo Sosa.

Eighteen of them were from Barangay Lattut in Rizal. Batallones was a Sangguniang Kabataan chair in Barangay Allangigan in Conner.

Rizal Vice Mayor Joel Ruma said the fatalities from Lattut would be given free burial and financial assistance.