2 die, 7 hurt as van slams into house in Tacloban City

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

TACLOBAN CITY — Two women died while seven others were wounded after a wing van hit a house on Sunday, Jan. 1.

Cousins Laica Encomio and Rhemy Cuizon, both 23 years old, were rushed to the hospital but did not make it alive.

Injured were their parents Nolando Cuizon, 50; and Merly, 44; sister Mercy, 26; Neil John Balatucan, 23; Lei Xan Thiel, 1; Darwin Barbosa, 26; and Emelyn Claridad, 28.

All victims were at the house of Rhemy to celebrate the new year when the wing van rammed into their house located along Zone 4B, Utap district in Tacloban at about 5 p.m., a police report said.

All were brought to the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center for medical treatment.

The driver of the wing van escaped, leaving behind the vehicle which pinned down the two cousins to death.

According to witnesses, the wing van, which is registered to a certain Daisylyn Dorion from Quezon City, was running fast when it fell into a cliff where the house of the victims was located.

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez rushed to the scene and expressed his grief over the accident.

“It’s so sad that we enter the New Year with a tragedy involving two women killed and seven others injured. I offer my condolences to the family,” Romualdez said.

He asked the Department of Public Works and Highways to put up railings and street lights in the area to avoid a similar incident.

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JPV