Area accident-prone: Couple dead, 8 injured in Carcar road mishap

CEBU, Philippines - An American national and his wife died while eight others were injured in a vehicular accident that transpired on a four-lane national highway in Barangay Ocaña, Carcar City past 5 a.m. yesterday.

The fatalities were identified as Keith Rosel, 36, and his wife Nygile Rosel, both residents of Barangay Poblacion in Sibonga town.

Police Officer 1 Ariel Yap of Carcar City Police Station said initial investigation conducted by PO1 Dennis Cabajar showed that Keith was driving from Cebu City and heading for Sibonga when his blue Ford Ranger pickup with plate number AAZ 8673 suddenly drove off the road, flipped over a guardrail, and hit a tree.

Police believed that the driver lost control of his vehicle.

The couple was brought to the Cebu Provincial Hospital-Carcar City but they were both declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Eight others who obtained injuries on the different parts of the body were brought to the same provincial hospital. They were all passengers of the couple.

Injured victims were Ariel Rosel, 23; Primitivo Rosel, 54; Edcel Rosel, 19; Stephen Rosel, 23; Nikkame Rosel, 19; Melody Cantona, 24; Erwin Llanos, 39; and Florian Anuda, 20.

Following the incident, Yap warned motorists to be cautious in passing through the area since it is accident prone due to its elevated portion prompting vehicles to increase their speed.

Old acacia trees are also standing along the road just near where the accident happened, he added.

Exactly three months ago, two persons died in a vehicular collision on a national highway of the same barangay.

Based on the police investigation, the driver of one of the two vehicles was reportedly trying to avoid a man, who was reportedly drunk and walking aimlessly on the road, when he lost control of the vehicle.

He, however, still ended up hitting the victim which resulted to the latter's death. After hitting the man, the vehicle overshot the road and bumped into the other truck, which was traveling the opposite direction, and caused the truck driver's death. (FREEMAN)