1 dead, 17 hurt after truck collides with jeepney

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – A woman died while 17 others were injured after a truck loaded with bananas allegedly collided with a passenger jeepney at Sitio Bunga, Barangay Orong, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental last Saturday.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Mary Rose Pico, city police chief, identified the fatality as Lea Moreta, 57, of Barangay Camingawan.

Pico said 13 jeepney passengers, including a 17-year-old girl, and its driver Richard Cabugnason, 38, of Mabinay, Negros Oriental were injured while four persons on board a truck suffered minor injuries.

Pico said the jeep was on its way to Kabankalan City from Mabinay town when the truck driven by a certain “Aldrin” allegedly hit the rear part of the former vehicle.

The jeepney swerved and hit a house to avoid another truck parked on the roadside.

The house was damaged but nobody was harmed.

Pico said the truck was tailing the jeepney when it suffered from mechanical problem while traversing the road which is under repair.

Due to the impact, Moreta, who was seated at the back of the jeepney sustained serious injuries and was declared dead at a hospital.

Pico said the truck driver fled and remains at-large.