Truck helper killed in freak accident in Naga City

NAGA CITY—A truck helper was killed after being toppled from a truck loaded with sacks of corn and run over by the same vehicle as they were passing by the village of San Felipe here Monday night.

Truck driver Arnel Peña, 38, said his aide, identified only as “Roy,” was lying on the truck bed and had stood up to remove a telephone cable dangling overhead the truck cargo when he fell from the vehicle.

Peña, in an interview Tuesday morning, said he had not noticed the accident until the other truck helpers alerted him. He said before he could make a full stop Roy’s head was already run over by the truck’s rear wheel.

The Naga City Police Office took Peña in their custody.

Peña said Roy, “who is about the same age as his,” had been working for truck owner Vilma Villaraza for the last five years.

The truck was en route to Magarao town, also in Camarines Sur, from Barangay Pacol in Naga City when the accident occurred in Barangay San Felipe.

Peña said they passed by the same site that day but the telephone cable was not yet hanging across the road. He said his employer was trying to locate Roy’s next of kin in Davao.