1 killed, 8 hurt in Pangasinan town road collision

DAGUPAN CITY—A 20-year-old man was killed and eight others were injured when a 10-wheeler truck crashed into the back of a passenger bus at Mangatarem town in Pangasinan province on Friday (Sept. 22).

John Jovet Dela Cruz, a truck helper who was pinned inside the truck’s front seat, was already dead when rescuers brought him to the Mangatarem District Hospital.

The truck diver, Rizalino Nicolas, 50, and other helpers Jaypee Gabalat, 20, and Darwin Pradez, 19, survived the collision but suffered injuries.

The truck was tailing the passenger bus on the north bound lane of the Romulo Highway in Barangay (village) Quetegan at 4:30 a.m. when the bus stopped at an intersection to give way to a vehicle crossing the road.

The truck rammed into the bus, shoving the vehicle toward four motorcycles waiting on the road side, before it crashed into a concrete fence.

Five people, who were described as the drivers and passengers of the motorcycles, were brought to a clinic for treatment, police said. /jpv