Cop killed in Cebu road accident

CEBU CITY—After a long day at work and a long drive to and from the Mactan airport, a traffic policeman of Cebu City apparently fell asleep at the wheel while driving home before dawn Friday and plunged to his death in a seven-foot-deep ravine in Sibonga, a municipality 50 km south of here.

A police investigator and PO2 Iranie Dela Vega’s wife, Charlie, said the traffic policeman must have fallen asleep while driving home to Aragao, 57 kms south of Cebu City as the crow flies, after taking his wife to the airport for a 6 a.m. flight to Davao.

Dela Vega was to drop by his parents’ home in Sibonga but failed to make a slight right turn at a curve in Barangay Sabang, SPO1 Bernanrd Otida of the Sibonga police said. His car crashed through small trees along the road then fell into the ravine before hitting another tree, Oitda said.

Charlie DeLa Vega skipped her flight and went straight to Sibonga after receiving a call informing her of her husband’s 4:30 a.m. accident.

Dela Vega was taken to the Carcar City District Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival due to severe head injuries.

Mrs. Dela Vega said her husband was tired because his duty on Thursday was from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. They had to leave Sibonga at 2 a.m. for the Mactan Cebu International Airport so she could catch her 6 a.m. flight to Davao City.

Charlie said her husband drove home from the airport, but he was supposed to drop by the house of his parents in Barangay Poblacion, Sibonga. The accident happened just 1.5 kilometers from the house of Dela Vega’s parents, she said.