Crash survivor yet to see daughter, 2

SHE has not yet seen Ashley,  her baby girl since the day of her confinement at the Vicente Sotto MEmorial Medical Center after Thursday’s road accident in Barili town, southwestern Cebu.

Cecilia Cereno, 29, laidd down on an extra bed outside the hospital’s orthopedic ward.

Passersby can look down the hallway. Insects can come in. A fly landed on Cecilia’s bandaged forehead.

She was still on dextrose and  her left hand was bandaged.

“Ma, call out for Inday,” she recalled telling her mother before she was wheeled into an ambulance and passed out last Thursday.

Cereno and Ashley figured in the accident that killed 10 and wounded 52 persons

Cereno and her daugher were on the front seat of the dump truck. She said she saw Ashley crawling with a bleeding head after the accident.

Cereno said she worries since she doesn’t know the state of her daughter.

Ashley is recuperating in a ward. She  wore a  sleeveless shirt and a diaper.

Her father said Ashley’s left ear suffered serious injuries.

“The back of an ear got peeled away,” he said.

“There’s a wound on her head. I know because I saw when the doctor removed the bandage,” he said.

Around 3 p.m., a nurse administered a nebulizer to help the baby girl breathe properly. There was no electric fan in the ward. Ashley’s father used a native fan on her.

Twenty-two of the injured were already discharged from the hospital. Another 15 are still recovering.

Twelve-year-old Jenmar Rebuyas was recovering after a foot surgery last Friday.

He has difficulty rising and walking alone since he sustained wounds on his head, shoulder and leg.

Six were being treated for broken bones, bruises, gashes and minor injuries in the trauma center.

“My body still hurts,” Cereno said.

Her left pinkie finger had to be cut off. The remaining fingers were wounded.

Cereno had wounds on her knees and bruises on her cheeks.

She said the  flesh of her forehead was exposed and  got stitched. But doctors told her they found nothing serious after a CT scan.

She feels pain on her chest whenever she breathes.

Cereno’s 25-year-old sister, Mirasol got teary-eyed as her  sister recalled the  incident.

Cecilia told Cebu Daily News that there were six  people on the front seat of the dump truck including the driver.

Cereno was thrown to the  windshield when it crashed.

Cereno said she embraced her baby girl as the dump truck sped and fell on its side.

She said Ashley’s head bumped into the windshield and both of them landed on the road.

“The driver was the first to jump out the door,” she said.

Mother and daughter cried. Cereno shouted for help.

“I kept on shouring “Help! PLease help us!’.” she said.

She said the driver did not even help them.

“He just looked at us with his arms on his hips.”

She is still suffering severe pain and can hardly breathe.

“My daughter and I haven’t seen each other yet,” she said.

“I really regret joining the group in sending off the dead in the funeral.” /Candeze R. Mongaya and Rhea Ruth V. Rosell