ROAD ACCIDENT. Civilians help retrieve the wounded passengers of a public utility van following a highway accident in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Maguindanao del Norte province on Sunday (March 5, 2023). At least six were killed and 13 others were injured in the three-vehicle collision. (Photo courtesy of Datu Odin Sinsuat Police Traffic Unit)
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao del Norte – A freak highway accident along the national highway here has claimed the lives of six persons and injured 13 others, police said Monday.
Sgt. Benjamin Bedo, Datu Odin Sinsuat traffic investigator, said a pickup truck, a loaded passenger van, and a tricycle were involved in the 4:30 a.m. Sunday highway mishap in Barangay Kurinte.
“Five of the fatalities on board the passenger van were to attend a family reunion in Maguindanao del Sur (province) when the incident occurred,” Bedo said.
He identified the fatalities as Unasan Kaul, the passenger van driver and resident of Guindulungan, Maguindanao del Sur; and his passengers Norhaimin Baloadek, Manaut Guialudin, Kaidu Manalsal, and Mamakong Salimbao, all of Gen. S.K. Pendatun town.
The driver of the pickup truck, a certain Bomber Gani, was declared dead on arrival in a hospital in Cotabato City. The tricycle driver, whose identity remains unknown, was critically injured.
Bedo said the pickup vehicle was heading to South Cotabato province when it first hit a tricycle traveling on the same lane before it collided head-on with the oncoming passenger van.
“The four-lane highway, about two kilometers straight and paved is seemingly tempting for motorists to speed up,” Bedo said, adding that witnesses said the involved vehicles were traveling at high speed.
He appealed to drivers of slow-moving vehicles to use the outermost lanes to avoid road accidents. (PNA)
