1 dead, 4 hurt in road accidents

CEBU, Philippines - One died while four were injured in two separate vehicular accidents in northern Cebu yesterday and on Tuesday.

Driver Erik Gonzaga, 20, of Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City died while his back-rider Jie-ar Bonghanoy, 18, of Dapdap, Catarman, Liloan sustained serious physical injuries after their motorcycle accidentally hit the sidings of a prime mover truck in a blind curve on the national highway of Barangay Poblacion, Danao City 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

Initial investigation revealed that the Mitsukoshi motorcycle (plate number 113-110) driven by Gonzaga tried to overtake another motorcycle near the blind curve while the Isuzu prime mover truck (YCL-903) pulling a trailer truck (GUD-144) from its behind was on the other lane travelling opposite direction. 

Senior Police Inspector 1 Renante Manulat, chief investigator at the Traffic Management Office of Danao City, said when Gonzaga overtook a motorcycle in the same lane with him, he did not notice the prime mover truck coming resulting in the motorcycle hitting the truck's left sidings.

Manulat said Gonzaga was stuck up on the sidings and hit his head on the round bars of the truck while the motorcycle with Bonghanoy bounced and landed on the ground 13 meters away.  

Gonzaga was declared dead moments after he was brought to the hospital while Bonghanoy was rushed to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

The driver of the truck, Marcelo Caballera, 38, a resident of Lamac, Consolacion is currently under the custody of Danao police pending the filing of appropriate charges against him.

Caballera is a company driver of pharmaceuticals firm and was on his way to Bacolod after delivering boxes of ethyl alcohol while Gonzaga and Bonghanoy were on their way back to Lapu-Lapu from the Land Transportation Office in Danao for driver's license transactions.

Meanwhile, just fifteen meters from the area in Carmen town where a Ceres bus fell on its side on the road, another vehicle stumbled and fell on a pond hurting three yesterday.

Rodrigo Baguio, 49, together with his wife Amytes, 36, and son Andrie, 5, residents of Panalipan, Catmon, were injured when the pickup vehicle (YHZ-776) driven by Rodrigo lost balance after allegedly overtaking a multi-cab on a slippery road 9:40 a.m. in Barangay Dawis Norte.

The family was said to be on their way to Cebu City from their house in Catmon on board a gray Nissan Frontier Navara pickup truck.

Police Officer 1 Nerbert Padayao of Carmen police said according to a witness' account, the vehicle was speeding up before overtaking the multi-cab when the front right wheel of the vehicle outbalanced causing them to stumble and fell on a five-foot deep fish pond.

Padayao said heavy rains poured that day causing the slippery road and resulting to the misfortune of the family.

Currently, the family is being treated at the Mactan Doctors Hospital in Lapu-Lapu City.

It was reported Sunday that a Ceres bus fell on its side in Barangay Dawis Norte, Carmen and injured 39 passengers.