NEWSBRIEFS

NORTH COTABATO

Tornado destroys P2M in crops

A tornado swept through remote villages in North Cotabato on Saturday and destroyed more than P2 million worth of corn crops, bananas and rubber trees.

Antipas chief of police, Inspector Felix Fornan, said the tornado came at about 8 a.m. amid heavy downpour and strong winds in at least two villages, Canaan and Camutan in the town’s mountain areas.

No one was hurt, but banana and rubber tree plantations were damaged, Fornan said. At least five tornadoes hit this town this year. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao

QUEZON

Biker killed in highway

A 68-year-old biker was killed in a road accident along the Maharlika Highway in Tiaong town on Saturday.

Pablito Hirang of Barangay Lalig was aboard his bicycle at around 2:30 p.m. when he was hit by a Manila-bound DLTB bus driven by Julian Rafer, said Tiaong police investigator Police 0fficer 2 Niño Cristobal Narvaez.

Hirang was  declared dead on arrival at the hospital due to multiple injuries. The driver is now detained, Narvaez said. Delfin  T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon

BATAAN

Bus falls into ravine; 12 hurt

Twelve people, including a 4-year-old girl, were injured when a Genesis Transit bus bound for Mariveles town fell into a 15-foot ravine at 11 p.m. on Friday.

The bus driver, Michael Villas, 33, and the bus conductor were also hurt in the fall. Most of the injured were rushed to Maheseco Hospital.

Villas said he was negotiating a sharp curve of a zigzag road, when he saw a parked cargo truck that he tried to avoid but failed. Greg Refraccion, Inquirer Central Luzon