8 hurt in car accident in Maguindanao town

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- Seven commuters and a driver were badly injured Monday dawn when a passenger van turned-turtle and fell into six-feet ditch along a highway in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

The victims were rushed by responding barangay folks and soldiers guarding road-building equipment in a lime stone quarry nearby to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center here for medication (CRMC).

The victims suffered head injuries and contusions in different parts of their bodies.

Investigators said the van was bound for Isulan, Sultan Kudarat from Lebak town in the same province when its driver lost control while driving at high speed on a stretch of a the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway in Baca area in Datu Odin Sinsuat town.

Barangay officials, quoting witnesses, said the silver Toyota air-conditioned van wiggled first before it turned turtle and fell into a ditch upside down.

“It was running fast. The driver apparently tried to control the vehicle, but failed,” a soldier who helped pull the injured passengers out of the van told The Star.

The driver was also injured in the crash.

The victims were rushed to the CRMC with the help of soldiers from an Army battalion headquarters about a kilometer east of accident scene.

Members of the Datu Odin Sinsuat police removed the damaged van from the ditch using a pay-loader of a private contractor engaged in a road project connecting Datu Odin Sinsuat and Kabuntalan town, also in Maguindanao.