LUCENA CITY – A government project engineer and a laborer were killed in an accident at a government construction site in San Antonio town in Quezon province on Monday afternoon, police said Tuesday.
A report released by the Quezon police public information office said that Alejandre Soriano Nidoy, 58, chief engineer of a National Irrigation Authority (NIA) project in the village of Callejon in San Antonio, and Jeffrey Atole Murphy, 36, a construction worker, died after they were hit by a cement mixer truck.
The report said the accident happened around 1:30 p.m. when Ruben Reyes Banayo, the driver of an Isuzu mixer truck (ZDS 557), was maneuvering the vehicle that was loaded with ready mixed cement in a downhill area of the construction site.
As the truck was maneuvering in reverse, the driver lost control of the vehicle due to sudden brake failure and accidentally rolled over the two victims who were then conversing and unaware of the fast approaching tragedy.
The report said the two victims died on the spot.
The wayward truck also hit a parked motorcycle before it finally stopped.
The truck driver was detained at the town police jail to face charges of reckless imprudence resulting to double homicide and damage to property, the report said.