Driver falls asleep on the wheel, kills couple-passenger in crash

Fish trader Cherry Arong, his head partially visible inside the wreck, and his wife Rosa Fe are pinned inside their light truck which rammed into a parked dump truck in Barangay Guinob-an, Lawaan town, Eastern Samar province, on Friday noon. INQUIRER VISAYAS / ROBERT DEJON

ORMOC CITY, Leyte – A fish trader and his wife were killed while three students were hurt in an accident on Friday along the national highway in Barangay Guinob-an, Lawaan town, Eastern Samar, about 170 km from here.

Senior Insp. Arthur Daiz, Lawaan police chief, identified the victims as Cherry Arong, 46, and his wife Rosa Fe, 39, from Zamboanga del Norte.

Carlo Basa, 18, Jaime Chris Elijedo, 16, and Mark Taguinod – all senior students at the Balanjugan National High School – were recuperating at the Eastern Visayas Memorial Center in Tacloban City, Leyte.

Daiz said the couple were on a Kia Light truck (plate number KJC-732) driven by Mario Enojero, 35, of Zamboanga Del Norte, when it crashed into a parked dump truck at about noon.

They came from General MacArthur town in Eastern Samar and were headed to Tanuan town in Leyte to deliver fish.

Enojero told Inquirer in a phone interview that he fell asleep while driving since he had been driving nonstop.

He woke up when he realized that the truck was about to hit three students on a pedestrian lane.

Enojero tried to avoid the students by suddenly pulling on the wheel but crashed into a parked Isuzu dump truck (plate number ACO-8673).

The couple were pinned inside the vehicle and died on the spot.

Despite Enojero’s effort to avoid the students, the victims’ light truck still sideswiped the trio.

Enojero suffered minor bruises and was detained at the Lawaan police station. CBB