Newsbriefs

GENERAL SANTOS CITY

Ship rams boat, kills fisherman

A PERSON was killed while six others were injured when a Manila-bound Superferry passenger ship rammed into a troubled fishing boat off Maasim, Sarangani, early yesterday.

Supt. Edgard Cuanan, chief of the police regional maritime unit in Central Mindanao, identified the fatality as Giovanni Buntong, 60, whose body was found two hours after the 1 a.m. collision.

“We saw the big vessel coming straight to our boat. But our engine conked out so we were hit,” said Rex Bulawin, 28, one of the surviving fishermen.

Cuanan said Superferry could not be held liable for the accident because “under the rules, small vessels must always give way to bigger ones.” Aquiles Z. Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao

COMPOSTELA VALLEY

Footbridge snaps, kills miner

A WOODEN footbridge in the mining area of Kingking in Pantukan, Compostela Valley, snapped, killing one person and injuring five others.

Rhona Siojo, Pantukan social welfare officer, said yesterday that six small-scale miners were crossing the footbridge in Purok Tiogdan in Sitio Gumayan around 9 p.m. Wednesday when the ropes holding the wooden planks together snapped.

The victims fell several meters into the river below the bridge, Siojo said. She said the bridge had been declared unsafe and barriers were put there to prevent people from using it. The victims apparently ignored the warning, said Siojo.  Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao

DAVAO DEL SUR

Rebels kill village watchman

SUSPECTED communist rebels shot dead the head of village watchmen in Barangay Malawanit in Magsaysay town in this province on Thursday, police said yesterday.

Senior Supt. Vladimir Custer Kahulugan, provincial police director, said Salipada Pendatun Sr. was near his home when attacked by a still undetermined number of armed men around 7 p.m.  Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao

MASBATE

SAF Masbate camp attacked

COMMUNIST guerrillas attacked early Thursday a camp that housed at least 50 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police in Barangay Lalaguna in Mobo town in the province.

Senior Insp. Banduares Lingaling, commanding officer of the SAF camp, said the attack came past midnight. The gunfight lasted at least 30 minutes although no casualty was reported on either side. Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Inquirer Southern Luzon

PANABO CITY

Pilot dead in crop duster crash

A CROP DUSTER crashed here on its way to a pesticide spraying mission in a banana plantation, killing its pilot, authorities said.

Supt. Glenn Cristenes, spokesperson of the Davao del Norte police, identified the pilot as Napoleon Emia.

Cristenes quoted witnesses as saying they saw the plane nosedive into a banana plantation owned by Lapanday Foods Corp. shortly after takeoff. Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao