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CEBU CITY, Philippines—A woman was killed and 23 other persons, mostly high school students, were injured when an cargo truck fell into a ravine in a mountain village in the municipality of Tabuelan town, northwest of Cebu City, late Sunday afternoon afternoon.
Police and hospital authorities identified the fatality as Nenita Avenido, a resident of Cabalawan, Bongon, Tabuelan, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Juan Dosado Memorial Hospital in Sogod town.
Avenido’s husband, Armando, was among of the 23 patients who were brought to the Sogod hospital and Tuburan district hospital. The injured included students from Barangay Bongon.
Thirteen of the injured were later transferred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital in Cebu City, Sumayang said.
Police 0fficer 3 Archibald Legaspino of the Tabuelan Police Station said the Isuzu truck, owned by former Tabuelan Vice Mayor Silvestre Momo, was regularly used to deliver rice, soft drinks and beer to upland villages of Tabuelan. On the return trip, the truck was used to carry copra.
Upland residents, mainly high school students, habitually hitched rides into town on the truck as the village of Bongon is 18 kilometers from the town proper. The bulk of hitchhikers on Sundays were usually students going into town for classes during the week.
The driver of the truck, Delmar Zamora Llanto, claimed that the brakes of the truck failed while he was negotiating a downhill road in Sitio Kampatok and he lost control of the vehicle.