6 hurt in Lucena road accident

LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines—Six persons returning home for Christmas were injured when the sleepy driver of the van they were riding in hit the rear portion of a parked city garbage truck along the Maharlika Highway on Monday morning, police said.

Senior Supt. Valeriano de Leon, Quezon police chief, said a Mercedes Benz van ((UKY-492) carrying 12 passengers was cruising the highway along Barangay Ibabang here at around 7 a.m. and was headed for the Dahalican Port en route to Marinduque when it rammed the back of a brand new garbage truck that was parked on the roadside while collecting the village’s trash.

The white garbage truck, which was purchased by the city government only a week ago and has yet to be issued with a license plate number, was pushed at least eight meters away due to the strong impact of the collision.

Ariel Peñaflorida, the van driver, admitted to police investigators that he was sleepy and did not notice the truck that was parked along the side of the road while its crew were collecting garbage in the neighborhood.

“It was an accident. I admit that I felt sleepy,” Peñaflorida told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview at the accident site.

Police identified the injured passengers as Josefina Manalo, Marites Pagarao, and Maryjoy Salvacion, all of Muntinlupa City; and sisters Jane and Caren Cortero and Laila Estrope, all of Buenavista, Marinduque.

The six other passengers were unharmed.

The injured passengers, except for Estrope, were rushed to the nearest hospital by passing motorists. They sustained contusions and bruises in different parts of the body.

Both legs of Estrope, who was sitting at the front seat, were pinned down by protruding metals from the wrecked front portion of the van. It took rescuers from the Lucena Fire Station and first aid personnel from the Quezon Medical Center some time to extricate her from the wreckage but she was later found to have no serious injuries, De Leon said.