Road accident kills 11 Aetas

BOTOLAN, ZAMBALES—Evangeline Capistrano, 34, and her youngest son, Kenneth Ivan, 4, were inseparable. Refusing to be left at home when Evangeline attended a seminar here on Thursday, Kenneth Ivan tagged along with his mother.

On their way home, their multicab van was hit at 2:45 p.m. by a delivery truck that blew a tire on the national highway in Barangay Carael here.

The mother and son, sitting in front of the van, died on the spot.

The crash also killed nine more passengers of the van, including its driver.

The victims belonged to an Aeta community in Barangay Amungan in the Zambales capital town of Iba. They participated in a seminar organized by the local agriculture office at the Botolan campus of the Ramon Magsaysay Technological University.

“It has been devastating to lose my wife and son to such a tragic accident. I wish they didn’t have to leave to attend the seminar,” Geraldo Capistrano, husband of Evangeline, said in Filipino.

“My son wanted his mother to be beside him all the time. He just didn’t want to let go of his mother so my wife took him with her to the seminar,” Geraldo said.

The truck driver, Jefferson Viray, 26, lost control of the vehicle after its left front tire burst. The truck skidded to the opposite lane and crashed into the van that carried 13 people.

Chief Insp. Generico Binan, Botolan police chief, said seven of the van’s passengers died on the spot while three others died before reaching a hospital in Iba. —ALLAN MACATUNO