INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Two persons were killed when a Bicol-bound tanker transporting a still unknown chemical overturned and burst into flames following a collision with another truck on the Maharlika Highway in Atimonan, Quezon, shortly before midnight Thursday, police said.
Chief Inspector Jonar Yupio, Atimonan police chief, said the still unidentified driver of the tanker and his helper were pinned down in the cab of the truck and burned to death.
“We’re still waiting for the heavy equipment to retrieve the charred remains,” Yupio said in a telephone interview Friday morning.
A police field report received at Camp Nakar here described the vehicle, with license plate LUE 646, as a “tractor trailer oil tanker truck.” It came from Manila.
Yupio said the truck was cruising on the highway in Barangay Malinao Ilaya in Atimonan when the driver lost control of the vehicle around 11:10 and it collided with an oncoming Elf truck.
After hitting the right side of the other truck, the tanker veered into an vacant lot where it overturned and burst into flames, Yupio said, citing accounts of witnesses.
He said investigators were waiting for the vehicle’s owner to ascertain the truck’s cargo.
“We believe that the content was not petroleum product; maybe some form of chemical,” Yupio said. He said the truck bore no markings.
He said firemen from neighboring towns helped put out the fire, which lasted until 2 a.m. Friday.
He said the helper of the Elf truck, identified as Justine Pinque from Calauag, Quezon, sustained injuries and was being treated at a hospital in Lucena City.