Driver, who caused vehicular tragedy in Talisay City, dies in hospital
Emergency responders are helping injured victims in a road accident involving several vehicles in Talisay City this morning. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The driver of a 10-wheeler truck that lost control and caused a vehicular tragedy in Barangay Lawaan III on Friday morning, December 3, 2021, died in the hospital shortly after the incident.
He is the fifth casualty of the deadly vehicular crash that involved two 10-wheeler trucks, one 6-wheeler truck, five 4-wheel vehicles, five motorcycles, and one bicycle.
In the official report of the Talisay City Police, Benchin Udtohan, the driver of one of the involved trucks, was declared dead on arrival at the Cebu South Medical Hospital.
Jose Wendel Cataquez, 66; Paquito San Pedro, 29; Glenn Baclay, 24; and an unidentified woman also died in the incident.
The road accident also injured 15 others, who are currently in the hospital for medical treatment.
Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas said that he had ordered Lieutenant Colonel Randy Caballes, Talisay City Police chief, and Joy Tumulak, the city’s traffic czar, to investigate the deadly road accident.
Gullas said he would want Caballes and Tumulak to focus their investigation on the operator/owner of the truck.
“Though initially it was found that a 10-wheeler truck caused the accident, we will still investigate further especially the whereabouts of the truck boy whom allegedly fled the scene. His testimony would give a clearer picture on what happened since the driver passed away,” he said. “My deepest condolences to the bereaved families. I also ask everyone to pray with me sa malinawong kapahulayan sa mga namatay natong kaigsuonan,” Gullas said. (My deepest condolences to the bereaved families, I also ask everyone to pray with me for the peaceful rest of those, who died in the accident.)Police Lieutenant Colonel Caballes, for his part, said in a phone conference that a 10-wheeler truck rushed down from the Tabunok flyover, apparently without a brake, causing the multiple collision.
“Ang nakita sa witness, kaning truck, gikan sa flyover sa Tabunok, pagdulhog, wala nay brake. Katong tanan naagian nga sakyanan, katong auto nga pula, katong Lalamove nga L300, ang minibus, daghan na igo,” said Caballes.
(What a witness saw was that this truck came from the flyover in Tabunok, it was heading down without any brake. All those vehicles that the truck passed, the red car, the Lalamove L300, the minibus, many of them were hit by the truck.)
The impact of the speeding truck colliding with the vehicles caused the windows of a Beep unit to break. This was also the reason several passengers inside the Beep were injured.
If the driver had lived, he could have been facing possible charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicides, multiple injuries, and damage to properties.
However, after his death, the police are still investigating, who will be facing the liabilities for the incident.
For now, the most likely cause of the accident was the faulty brakes of the truck leading to the collision. The police, however, were investigating allegations that two trucks were involved in the accident as they were trying to race each other along the highway.
Witnesses have claimed that the white and red trucks were trying to race each other causing the accident, but the police have yet to verify this allegation..
The road accident on Friday morning caused a traffic jam in the southern Metro Cebu, but the traffic flow returned to normal as of 4:25 p.m. with portions of the road where the accident happened having already been cleared.
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