COTABATO CITY — Five persons were hurt when a cargo truck loaded with 500 sacks of farm fertilizer lost its brakes and plowed into them along the highway in Makilala, North Cotabato on Wednesday.
Injured and now recuperating in a hospital were Dante Tejada, 42, Alfredo Batac, 56, both banana plantation workers, Anthony Tenorio, 23, Antonio Antipuesto, 28, all of Makilala, and truck helper Jovan Zamora, 38, of Barangay Binoligan, Kidapawan City.
Citing a traffic report, Supt. Bernard Tayong, North Cotabato Police spokesperson, said the cargo truck (ABU-9790) driven by Carl Joseph Amallo, 26, of Barangay Binoligan, was tailing two motorbikes near Lamitan Bridge in Barangay Poblacion at about 8:30 a.m. when its brakes malfunctioned.
“The truck driver said it was too late for him to avoid the two motorcycles before him, bumping them in the process,” Tayong said, adding that the driver decided to veer off the road toward a shallow creek to avoid hitting more vehicles along the descending highway.
The mishap shut down a portion of the highway for an hour as sacks of fertilizers littered the road.
Zamora, the truck helper, was pinned inside the vehicle when it smashed several electric posts and fell towards the creek. He was later rescued and brought to the hospital together with the other victims. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
