Catmon accident: 33 hurt in V-hire vs bus crash
AS the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) plans to conduct a road safety audit on all provincial roads after the fatal accident last week in Dumanjug town in southwestern Cebu and a road accident in Catmon town over the weekend involving a mini bus and a van for hire which resulted in 33 people injured.
Saturday’s accident happened when a van-for-hire from Daanbantayan heading toward Cebu City slammed at 4 p.m. into a “Julia Transit” minibus from Cebu City heading north to Borbon town.
Both drivers, Junrey Barafon, 32, the V-hire driver, and Aurio Lavador, 58, the Julia Transit driver, and seven other passengers from both vehicles were rushed to Cebu City hospitals because of their injuries.
Gerlyn Ocarol, 21, of Daanbantayan who was a passenger seated on the front seat of the V-hire was badly hurt and lost consciousness after the crash.
It took a while before she was pulled out from the wrecked V-hire by rescuers.
She was one of those passengers, who was rushed to a Cebu City hospital for treatment.
The 24 other passengers, who were hurt, were treated at the Juan Dosado Memorial Medical Center in Sogod town.
PO1 Charlie Bersaga of Catmon police station said in a phone interview that the V-hire driver, Barafon overtook a vehicle as he was negotiating a blind curve and slammed into the oncoming minibus.
Meanwhile Capitol’s Traffic Management Focal Person Joy Tumulak, advised drivers to be attentive while on the road.
“My advice to the drivers is they should be healthy and have a well-conditioned mind when they are driving. And although, the vehicle they are driving is in tip top shape, they should also drive carefully,” he said in Cebuano.
He said the DPWH – 7 would also send communication to all district engineers in the province to conduct Road Safety Audit (RSA).
“I am requesting DPWH to conduct a road safety audit in all provincial roads. This is part of the strategy to prevent road crashes,” he added.
Tumulak also said that the DPWH-7 had also installed mounted pavement markings and rumble strips in Dumanjug town due to the recent vehicular accidents in the area.
Last Monday (April 23), four persons riding in a multicab died and 11 were injured in a vehicular accident involving a delivery truck at the boundary of Barangay Kanyuko and Bitoon. The victims were reportedly from a family outing when the accident occurred.
About four days later (April 27), a basketball player also died in a road mishap involving a multicab and a truck at Barangay Ilaya in Dumanjug last Friday.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
