3 dead in Zamboanga del Sur road mishap

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Three persons died and seven others were injured, most of them minors, when a cargo truck crashed in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur on Monday night.

Maj. Julieto Asiñero, officer-in-charge of the Tukuran police station, said Esmeralda Cabrobias, 57; Jobirth Cabrobias, 38, and Joemar Cabaltera, 12, were pinned by sacks of rice when the accident occurred on a downhill stretch of the highway in Barangay Upper Pulakan. The truck was loaded with 480 sacks of rice

Asiñero said the victims hitched a ride on the truck in Barangay Navalan in Tukuran.

“According to the driver, the truck’s engine propeller broke, causing the vehicle to lose power while negotiating the steep descending road,”he said. ”The driver claimed he was forced to ditch the truck on the road gutter.”