ITOGON, Benguet – Three persons, including two children, died while three others, including a two-year old child, were injured after their Nueva Vizcaya-bound pickup suffered mechanical trouble and subsequently fell on a 50-meter deep ravine along the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya road, particularly at sitio Gueset, Tingongdan, here, Saturday afternoon.
Chief Inspector Eugene Raymundo, chief of the Itogon Municipal Police Station, identified the fatalities as Judea Layno, 13; Juleah Layno, 9 and Fely Layno, 60 while he named those injured in the incident as SPO3 Jeofel Berlito Layno, 43, who is assigned at the Dupax del Norte Municipal Police Station and driver of the alleged ill-fated motor vehicle, Judith Layno, 39 and Joriech Layno, 2, all natives and residents of Nueva Vizcaya.
Initial police investigation showed that the vehicle that was driven by the police officer was en route towards Nuevz Vizcaya after spending a break in the city when the said motor vehicle suffered mechanical trouble that caused the policeman to eventually lose control of the vehicle until it plunged into the said deep ravine.
Concerned residents and volunteers from the Itogon municipal government and rescuers from Benguet and Baguio City aided each other in rescuing the victims from the accident site.
However, the fatalities were declared dead on arrival at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC0 by attending physicians due to multiple head and body injuries while the injured individuals are still undergoing close medical supervision in the said health facility for similar injuries sustained from the said accident.
Probers are still gathering the testimonies from residents in the site who saw the incident to ascertain the real cause of the accident that claimed the lives of the fatalities and inflicted injuries to their love ones.
By Dexter A. See
