MANILA, Philippines—Two men were killed while two others were injured after a dump truck crashed into a gasoline station, triggering a fire in Valenzuela City early Tuesday.
Supt. Mel Lagan, chief of the Valenzuela Fire Department, identified the fatalities as truck driver Ramon Gabayan and gasoline boy Jonathan Mifuel, and the injured as truck helpers Raymond Pulay and Tomas Martin.
He said the accident happened at the Shell gasoline station on the northbound side of MacArthur Highway in Barangay Karuhatan at around 2 a.m.
According to Lagan, the dump truck, driven by Gabayan with Pulay with Martin as passengers, initially slammed into another truck loaded with plywood.
The collision caused the dump truck to skid off the highway and crash into the gasoline station, where it hit a fuel pump and triggered the fire.
The impact reportedly also removed the pump from its base.
The other truck fled the scene amid the carnage.
Gabayan, who was pinned in the wreckage and the fire, died on the spot.
Mifuel, on the other hand, was rushed to a nearby hospital but eventually died due to the severity of his burn wounds.
Both Pulay and Martin also suffered burns in the incident.
Only the gas pump was said to be damaged in the hour-long blaze but the gasoline station was prevented from resuming operations until the authorities declared the area safe.