Vehicle falls down Benguet ravine; 13 killed, 3 injured

BUGUIAS, Benguet –Canaos are now being held and smoke billowing out in this vegetable town in grief over the passing away of 13 people, almost all high school students, who died when the vehicle they were riding in fell into a 300-foot ravine here around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Sitio Banbanayen in Poblacion, this town along  Buguias-Kabayan-Bokod road.

Three others were seriously injured, said Supt. Davy Vicente Limmong, spokesman of the Cordillera Region police office while eight of the fatalities that included driver EfrenDalisdis died on the spot.

Four others were declared dead at the Lutheran District Hospital.

Three of the injured victims were transferred to Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center while another one was taken to Lutheran District Hospital.

“All victims excluding the driver are students of Poblacion National High School in Buguias,” Limmong said.

He identified the seven others who died on the spot as Jera Flair Mayao, 15; Maricel Basatan, 13; Jera Madiano,15; Jeribeth Simeon, 12; JasminLestino, 15; Nenerva Menzi, 16; and Angie Aguien, 15 and those who were declared dead at the Luteran Hospital in Buguias town as Meljoy Agustin, 15; IvonneBestre, 13; John Ray Dalisdis,16; and Mari Faith Lamsis, 16.

The 13th fatality, 15-year-old ChareeBestre, succumbed to serious injuries while undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Limmong said the Ford Fiera (ABF-436) was negotiating an uphill portion of the road in Barangay Bangbangayen when it began going backwards before falling off.

This, as Senior Supt. Rodolfo S. Azurin, Jr., Benguet provincial police director, identified the injured high school students as ReyshanLatuwed, 18; JameroseBankin, 15 and ElejoyAgyapas, 17.

Probers disclosed the ill-fated vehicle was on its way to Barangay Amlimay.

“Upon reaching an ascending portion of the road, three high school students who were walking home flagged down the vehicle for them to ride,” Azurinsaid.

After the students boarded the vehicle, Azurin disclosed its engine suddenly went off causing the vehicle to move backwards as its brakes also went off until the vehicle plunged into the deep ravine on the left side of the road.

He said rescuers and first aid responders immediately responded to the accident scene but they had a difficult time retrieving the bodies of the victims considering the depth of the ravine where the vehicle fell.

Most of the victims sustained multiple fractures on their head and different parts of their bodies which could have caused their untimely demise.            

Gov. Nestor B. Fongwan expressed his heartfelt condolences to bereaved families and relatives of the victims and wished the injured students to immediately recover from their respective injuries.

“We will be extending financial assistance to the accident victims upon the assessment of our provincial social welfare and development office,” Fongwan said. 

Fongwan appealed to motorists plying roads in the province to make sure their vehicles are in good running condition to prevent similar incidents. – With a report from Dexter A. See