Meralco car falls into Pasig River; 1 dead

DEATH PLUNGE. The Meralco company car that fell into the Pasig River is pulled out of the water four hours after the Makati City incident on Saturday. The driver was killed while the passenger, a Meralco engineer, survived but remained under observation in a hospital. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

An employee of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) was killed while his coworker was injured after the company vehicle they were using lost control on a Makati City road by the river and plunged into the water early Saturday morning.

A pedestrian was also hurt after being sideswiped by the speeding car before it fell into the Pasig River around 5 a.m., police said.

Authorities identified the fatality as Jose Marie del Rosario, 27, a resident of Taytay City, Rizal province, and the driver of the Meralco car that veered off J.P. Rizal Street in Barangay Cembo, near the Guadalupe Bliss housing project.

Del Rosario’s body was still in the car strapped in the seat, when Philippine Coast Guard divers found him around 7 a.m.

The passenger, engineer Robert Rillera, 29, managed to escape from the sunken car and remained under observation in a hospital at press time.

According to PO3 Wilson Nacino, the case investigator from the Makati police, Del Rosario and Rillera were part of a team that makes the rounds to check the operations of Meralco substations, their shift starting at 10 p.m. and ending at 6 a.m.

They were then heading toward Pateros when their car—a silver Toyota Vios—went crashing through a concrete railing on J.P. Rizal and onto the riverbank before “bouncing’’ into the water, Nacino said.

Witnesses said the car was then moving at a high speed, the officer added.

Before the plunge, the car hit a pedestrian identified as Edwin Billones, 46, who was later brought to Ospital ng Makati for minor injuries. Billones was discharged from the hospital later in the day.

Nacino said Rillera was already brought by concerned citizens to a hospital in Quezon City when the police arrived at the scene.

The Meralco vehicle was pulled out of the water around 9 a.m.