COTABATO CITY—Four people died and 13 others, including a nine-months-pregnant mother, were injured in three separate vehicular accidents in Kidapawan City and Maguindanao on Sunday.
At past 5 p.m. three passengers of a multicab vehicle died as it fell off a ravine in Barangay Ilomavis, Kidapawan City, while negotiating a sharp curve. Six other passengers were injured.
Traffic investigators identified the fatalities as Jalila and Junaika, both surnamed Ibrahim, and students of Indangan National High School in Barangay Indangan, Kidapawan City.
Also pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital was Panda Pacatua, a local resident.
The victims were heading home from a New Year’s excursion in Lake Agco, a famous hot spring at the slope of Mt. Apo when the accident happened.
In Makilala town, also in North Cotabato, a man who was on his way to join family and relatives at the vigil of his slain grandfather died in another vehicular crash in Barangay Kisante.
Henry Peligrino, 24, of Midsayap, North Cotabato, was driving his motorbike with two other companions when they collided head on with a Toyota passenger van in Barangay Kisante at 6:15 p.m.
Peligrino died on the spot while his two companions, Adriel Lois Antonio and John Loyd Peligrino, were rushed to the hospital.
At 7 p.m. Sunday, five people were injured when the passenger jeep they were riding collided head on with a speeding Toyota Hi-Ace passenger van in Barangay Rebuken, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. PNA
The Sultan Kudarat municipal office identified those injured as Joren Mindel, 23; Yolanda Aman, 52; Nor-Ain Salim, 21; 9-month pregnant Almira Mindel, 20; and Badrudin Mindel, 18, all residents of Barangay Pigcalagan, Sultan Kudarat.
The victims’ vehicle was heading home from Cotabato City when it collided head on with a Toyota Grandia driven by Joel Salik, 45, resident of Pikit, North Cotabato. PNA