Teacher, boy dead after train hits van in Camarines Sur

LEGAZPI CITY –– A teacher and a 12-year-old boy died while 15 other passengers were injured when a Philippine National Railway (PNR) commuter train hit the passenger van they were riding on at a railroad crossing in Libmanan town in Camarines Sur province on Thursday morning.

Staff Sergeant Emy Rose Organis, Libmanan police spokesperson, said public school teacher Glenda Rabago and Grade 6 pupil Jaime Victor, both from Sipocot town, died in the accident that happened in Barangay Camambugan at 11:50 a.m.

Organis, in a phone interview, said the Naga City-bound van driven by Danilo Diokno was crossing a railroad in the said village when a commuter train bound for Sipocot rammed the van.

She said the injured passengers were taken to the Libmanan District Hospital and the Naga City Hospital for treatment.

Initial investigation revealed that the driver of the van was avoiding traffic and made a shortcut route by using an alternate road in Camambugan when the accident happened./lzb