7 local tourists dead in South Cotabato highway mishap

KORONADAL CITY – Seven local tourists, including two minors, were killed in a highway mishap in Tupi, South Cotabato on Monday, Dec. 23.

Emil Sumagaysay, the Tupi Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management officer, said the accident happened along a concrete road in Sitio Lote, Barangay Cebuano, Tupi, South Cotabato at past 3 p.m.

The tourists were on board a Mitsubishi FB van heading to Polomolok from a visit to Magsangyaw Holy Land of Praise, a tourist spot in Tupi, when the vehicle lost its brake system.

“Only the driver survived although critically injured but all his seven passengers were killed on the spot,” Sumagaysay told DXOM Radyo Bida Koronadal. “He was thrown off the driver’s seat through the vehicle’s front windshield.”

The still unidentified driver is undergoing medication at the Tupi municipal hospital.

Four of the fatalities were female, including two minors, and three were males.

He said the victims were residents of Cagayan de Oro City and vacationing in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

Sumagaysay said the driver intentionally hit a roadside Narra tree near a bridge in Sitio Lote, Barangay Cebuano after its brake system malfunctioned.

He said the road leading down from the tourist spot was steep and dangerous.

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