CEBU CITY– Dionisio Pogoy, 42, was looking forward to go home following a long day at work.
But he didn’t make it.
He was one of the 12 people who were hurt in a 10-vehicle smash up inside the South Road Properties (SRP) tunnel, which connects Cebu City to southern Cebu.
Pogoy said he was driving a ten-wheeler truck and was heading home to Mandaue City after delivering cement bags in Talisay City, southern Cebu, past 4 p.m. when his vehicle was rammed by a prime mover van that was tailing him.
“I was not able to step on the break immediately and bumped the truck in front of me,” Pogoy said in Cebuano.
But collision created a domino effect and affected eight more vehicles that were all north bound or heading to Cebu City.
It started with the prime-move which lost its brakes and hit the taxi on its front. The taxi then bumped the ten-wheeler truck driven by Pogoy which, in turn, rammed into an L300 van that also hit the Honda City on its front.
The car, on the other hand, rammed into another 10-wheeler truck.
The L300 van on the left side of the prime mover was also hit which then rammed into a Mitsubishi Montero Sports.
A motorcycle, which was beside the taxi, was likewise hit as well as a Nissan Navara although the pickup only sustained a scratch.
“Eight of the 10 vehicles were on the same lane. It created a domino effect since they were on the same lane,” said Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) enforcer Brian Rollo, who was among the first responders.
According to Nagiel Bañacia, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management officer, the SRP has a speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour.
But based on the result of the impact, he said he suspected that the prime mover was running at a speed of 50 to 60 kph.
He added enforcers suspected there was something wrong with the prime mover when it stopped suddenly on the viaduct before heading down to the tunnel.
Bañacia said the weight of the container van and the downward slope intensified the impact of the collision.