Baby girl recovering, looks for mama

SHE wore a baby T-shirt and a bandage wrapped around her head, covering several cuts.

Ashley Cedeño, the youngest survivor of the Barili dumptruck tragedy, was in stable condition at ward 6 of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center yesterday.

She turns 3 years old on Sept. 8.

“Sige siya ug pangita sa iyang Mama kay gusto na siya mouli. Paraygon man gud kaayo ni,” said her father Margarito, a farmer from Barili town. (She keeps looking for her mother and wants to go home. She’s very affectionate and needs attention.)

The little gir’s head injury did not show any fractures based on a CT scan, said hospital spokesman Nonoy Mongaya, but doctors are still keeping her under observation.

“There’s no problem with her head. She’s okay. She’s in the recovery room,” he said.

Ashley’s 24-year-old mother Cecil, who was carrying her in the truck before the crash, is still in the hospital’s trauma room being treated. Her condition was not disclosed by hospital representatives.

Cebu Daily News found Ashley lying in bed with visible scratches on her feet and body. Her father watched over his youngest child.

Margarito said he was at home in Barili town taking of Ashley’s three siblings when the accident took place.

He learned about the mishap from his mother-in-law, Paning Lumbra, 49, one of the truck passengers. She rode a habal-habal motorcycle from the accident site in Balao to the family’s house in barangay Cangdampas more than 10 kilometers.

An ambulance brought Ashley to VSMMC in Cebu City where most of the crash victims were taken.

“The doctor had to do suction. They found blood in her stomach. She vomitted some blood,” said Angie Flores, staff coordinator of Rep. Pablo John Garcia.

All hospital expenses of the more than 60 injured passengers will be paid by the government.