Two killed, 9 injured in multiple-vehicle smashup in Toledo City

CEBU CITY – Two persons were killed while nine others were injured, including a five-year-old boy, after a wayward tanker loaded with gasoline hit and dragged four vehicles before one of the affected vehicles, a cargo truck, slammed into a house along a road in Sitio Bawod, Barangay Media Once, Toledo City on Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened at around 5 p.m. last Thursday when the tanker lost its brakes as it was traversing the road going downhill in Barangay Media Once en route to the city proper of Toledo.

P03 Julius Sanchez, traffic investigator of the Toledo City police,  identified the fatalities as Elden Repollo, 28, of Barangay Tuyan, Naga City; and Gretchen Sinahonon, 25, of Barangay T. Padilla, Cebu City.

The injured were Kent Luis Lausa, 5, the son of Sinahonon; Ronnie Juanico, of Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City; Ryan Gomamo, 23, of Barangay T.  Padilla, Cebu City; Arjie Abelinde, 18,  also from Barangay Padilla; Alvin Espinosa, 19, of Barangay Candulawan, Minglanilla; Roel Bois, 28, also of Barangay Candulawan; Darryl Johnson, 19, of Barangay Media Once, Toledo City; a certain Nadela;  and tanker driver Eddie Suico Jr. 39, of Barangay T. Padilla, Cebu City,  who was the live-in partner of Sinahonon.

Sanchez said Suico was driving the tanker with Sinahonon and the boy Lausa on board when he lost the tanker’s brake as it was descending down a curved road. Suico tried to control the tanker but it fell on its side and landed on the lane for incoming vehicles as it continued to move, hitting a cargo van bound for Cebu City driven by Juanico with workers Gomamo and Abelinde on board.

The strong impact threw the van into the side of the road, slamming into a residential house made of light materials owned by a certain Al Lape, who was unharmed.

The tanker, after hitting the van, also hit three motorcycles. One of the motorcycles was ran over by the tanker, which helped the transporter to stop from moving as it served as stopper, Sanchez said.

Repollo, one of the two fatalities, was the back rider of one of the motorcycles involved in the mishap driven by Nadela.

Espinosa was the driver of the second motorcycle, with Bois as his back rider;  while Johnson was the driver of the third motorcycle.

All those in the motorcycles were workers of a power plant being constructed in Barangay Ibo, Toledo City who were supposed to be heading home after work, Sanchez said.

He said Sinahonon died on the spot due to severe body and head injuries while Repollo was pronounced dead at the hospital inside Carmen Copper mining firm in Barangay Don Andres Soriano.

Suico was severely injured and it took over an hour for rescuers to pull him out of the badly damaged tanker, said Sanchez.

Suico and all the other injured persons have been transferred to better medical facilities in Cebu City, Sanchez said.