6 held for ship junk

DAGUPAN CITY– The wreckage of a Burma (Myanmar) cargo ship that ran aground in Agno, Pangasinan, in 2011 has attracted junk collectors. But six men, who sawed off metal from what was left of the ship, were arrested in Alaminos City on Tuesday as they tried to run away in a truck with their loot.

Police said Jovelito Orlino, 46, driver, and his companions, Arnulfo Malano, Elegio Navida, Juliro Malano, Jojo Amigable and Ricardo Natorio, all from the coastal village of Macaboboni in Agno, were arrested at 8 p.m. on June 4 after police stopped their truck in Alaminos City.

The truck was loaded with several pieces of metal weighing around 2,000 kilograms  and worth P20,000. The metal came from the wreckage of M/V Changda 12, a Burma-registered cargo vessel, which ran aground in Barangay (village) Macaboboni on Dec. 19, 2011.  Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Vietnamese tourist kills self

A Vietnamese tourist on Saturday slashed his abdomen and died in a hospital here after a fellow Vietnamese refused to lend him money for his fare back to Vietnam.

Supt. Christopher Abrahano, police chief here, said the bloodied Nguyen Tan Lap, who was identified through his passport, was found on a sidewalk in front of  West Central Elementary School here at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Abrahano said minutes earlier, Lap met with fellow Vietnamese, Nguyen Thanh Thi, in her rented apartment just across the school.

Thi, a businesswoman here, later told investigators that Lap came to her to borrow money for his fare back to Vietnam. But when Thi told him that she did not have money, Lap drew a knife from his pants’ back pocket, slashed his abdomen and then walked away.

A horrified Thi immediately called the police, who took Lap to the nearby Cuison Family Hospital. Lap died at 3:40 p.m. Abrahano said Lap arrived in the country on June 4 and was supposed to return to Vietnam on

June 10. He said Lap had been going in and out of the country in the past few months.  Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

12 hurt in road accident

BAGUIO CITY- – At least 12 people, eight of them children, were hurt when their La Union-bound pickup truck hit an electric post along Naguilian Road in Sablan, Benguet, on Saturday, reports from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said.

The driver, Johnny Cotay, 36, said the brakes of his Toyota pickup truck malfunctioned when they reached Barangay Banangan, forcing him to steer toward an electric post to stop the vehicle, the Cordillera OCD said.

Eight of Cotay’s passengers were children aged between 2 and 12. They were taken to  Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center here. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon