Village frontliner dies after ambulance with pregnant onboard crashes

SAN PEDRO CITY–A village frontliner died when their ambulance carrying a woman, who was about to give birth, met an accident on the national highway in Bay, Laguna on Friday evening.

The fatality was identified as Ofelia Regalado, 50, a village watchman in Barangay (village) Tuntungin in Los Baños, Laguna.

Police Patrolman Yves Ryan Petines, in a phone interview Saturday, said the accident happened at around 11:30 p.m. Friday.

Regalado and ambulance driver Novo Magtangob were transporting Anna Jane Soriano, who was about to give birth, to the provincial government hospital in Sta. Cruz town. With them were Soriano’s live-in partner and a brother.

“But they were refused in Sta. Cruz because they said they needed some (hospital) referral first and so they just decided to go back and take the patient to (another government hospital) in Calamba City,” Petines said.

The ambulance was headed to Calamba when Magtangob reportedly dozed off, causing the ambulance to swerve off the road and crash onto an electric post.

Regalado, who was on the front passenger seat, died.

The other victims were taken to a private hospital in Bay where Soriano was admitted.

It was not immediately clear whether she had already safely delivered her child but Petines said she was in a stable condition after the accident. Her companions were safe.

The ambulance driver, meanwhile, was held for reckless imprudence that resulted in homicide.