11 killed, 20 injured in Cotabato jeep mishap

COTABATO CITY – Eleven people, one of them a 10-year-old boy, died while 20 others were injured after a jeepney rammed into a pile of boulders and overturned on a highway in North Cotabato the other day.

Killed were Manuel Sevilla II, 10; Amalie Valdez, Corazon Osorio, Gerry Dumlao, Edgar Camahig, Usman and Ali Ampaso, Novelyn Tesoro, Raff John Ubid, Army Special Forces soldier David Uson, and an unidentified man in his 30s.

The injured passengers were taken to various hospitals in Kidapawan City, the capital of North Cotabato.

Driver Joey Padernal told police the jeepney lost its brakes on a downhill slope along the Antipas-Kidapawan highway in remote Barangay Loong, Antipas town.

Padernal said he tried to maneuver the jeepney to a stop when he noticed that the brakes had failed.

"The vehicle had already gained momentum because we were coming downhill," he said in Hiligaynon. "I rammed a big boulder along the highway to stop the vehicle but it turned turtle instead."

Police said some of the fatalities died from head injuries sustained after they jumped out of the jeepney as it accelerated downhill and rammed into a pile of boulders on the roadside.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said he has ordered officials of Antipas and President Roxas towns to provide immediate relief to the victims.

Antipas is a booming agricultural town some 30 kilometers northeast of Kidapawan City. – John Unson