Wayward van kills 3 minors, hurts 2 in N. Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – A wayward van ploughed through a group of minors walking along a national highway in Midsayap town here Wednesday, killing three on the spot and leaving two others badly injured.

Investigators identified the fatalities as Donarth James Custodio, 12; Jake Lloyd Alferez, 14; and Christian Jay Romero, 15.

The victims were walking along a stretch of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Barangay Sadaan in Midsayap when they were rammed by the speeding passenger van coming from the opposite end of the highway.

Two other adolescents, Kenneth Silverio, and John Ryan Mendoza, were seriously injured in the accident and are now fighting for their lives in a hospital.

More than a dozen other children trailing them, who were on their way to another barangay to watch a basketball game, survived the accident unscathed by jumping into a roadside ditch when they saw the van ram their companions.

The van driver, Patrick Dumas, 29, gave himself up to the local police. He told investigators that he lost control of the vehicle when one of its front tires exploded while he was maneuvering a downhill curve just meters away from the scene of the accident.