10 die as vehicle falls off Benguet cliff

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Ten people died  and 10 more were injured when a Ford Fiera bound for a Benguet town ran off the road and fell into an 80-meter ravine on Saturday afternoon.

Chief Superintendent Benjamin Magalong, Cordillera police director, said the vehicle (bearing plate numbers AAD 874) was ferrying 20 people to Abatan village in Buguias town when the accident happened at 2:30 p.m.

Rescuers from the Buguias police office and the Benguet police office reported that 10 of the passengers were already dead when they reached them at the bottom of the ravine.

Ten other people were rushed to the Abatan Emergency Hospital and the Lutheran Hospital.

Police have yet to determine what caused the vehicle to fall.

The names of the fatalities, as well as the survivors, were not immediately released.

Buguias is an upland community that grows salad vegetables.