Acacia falls on jeepney, kills driver

CEBU CITY—A man was killed after an acacia tree fell on the jeepney that he was driving in a village here on Wednesday.

Six passengers of the jeepney jumped out of the vehicle as the tree was falling past 2 p.m. One passenger suffered minor wounds.

Clenio Bontuyan, 63, of Barangay Talamban, was trapped in the jeepney. It took rescuers more than an hour to pull him out, according to Alvin Santillana, executive officer of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Rescue workers, according to Santillana, had to cut the tree to pieces to free Bontuyan, who died at the Cebu City Medical Center later.

Investigators said the jeepney was heading to downtown Cebu City from Barangay Talamban when it stopped at a red light in Barangay Zapatera beside the acacia tree.

Passenger Joemar Lastimosa said he was sitting behind the driver when he heard other passengers shouting that the tree was falling.

The passengers immediately jumped out of the jeepney window before the tree hit.

Kristoffer Encorporado, a customer at a store near where the accident happened, said he saw the tree hit electric wires first before falling on the jeepney.

The transformer exploded, triggering a brownout in some parts of the city.

Frank Benedicto, village chief of Zapatera, said the tree had been planted in the 1920s.

He said the soil beneath the tree could have softened and lost its grip on the acacia because of continuous rains the past few days.

The accident prompted city officials to order an inspection of old trees. City Mayor Michael Rama appealed to residents to report any tree that is in danger of falling.

The city and Mandaue City have been experiencing bad weather in recent days. On Tuesday, strong winds destroyed a house and uprooted several trees in a village in Mandaue.