AGUINALDO, Ifugao – Seven people died while three others were seriously injured when an elf truck loaded with passengers who were supposed to attend a burial of a deceased relative in a nearby town allegedly suffered from mechanical trouble and plunged into a 10-meter deep ravine at sitio Montanop, Chalalo, here, Wednesday morning.
Police Brig. Gen. Israel Efraim Dickson, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, said that six of the occupants of the ill-fated elf truck that was driven by a certain Joey Tambiag allegedly died on the spot while one of the passengers died while undergoing close medical supervision at the Potia District Hospital.
However, the identities of the fatalities and the injured individuals have yet to be released by the probes considering the difficulty of the terrain leading to the accident site.
Initial police investigation showed that the Alfonso Lista-bound elf truck was supposed to ferry the occupants of the vehicle to the town proper to attend the burial of a deceased relative when the said truck encountered mechanical trouble that caused the driver to eventually lose control of the same until it plunged into the deep ravine.
Emergency responders from Aguinaldo and Alfonso Lista towns immediately responded to the accident scene to rescue the victims but six of them died on the spot while three others are still being given medical treatment in the aforesaid hospital.
Probers are still looking into the real cause of the vehicular accident that resulted to the untimely demise of people who were supposed to simply attend the burial of a relative in the nearby town.
By Dexter A. See
