Two dead after truck fell into ravine in City of Naga

CEBU, Philippines - A driver and his assistant died after the crane truck they were riding plunged 30 feet into a roadside ravine in Barangay Uling, City of Naga, Cebu past 12 a.m. yesterday.

Authorities identified the victims as Arquilao Villacin, 42, of Puting Bato, Navotas City; and driver Ramil Ochea, 37, of Antipolo, Rizal.

The truck, with a 50-ton mounted hydraulic crane owned by CCT-TOYO Consortium, first slammed into the house of Nato Villacencio, a City Hall worker, before falling down the ravine.

Luckily, only the kitchen was hit, sparing Villacencio and his family who were soundly sleeping in their rooms.

Ray Mantalaba of the Naga Emergency and Action Team (NEAT) said it took them several hours to retrieve the victims, as the truck rested front first into the ravine.

Mantalaba said they managed to retrieve Villacin around 7 a.m. and Ochea se-veral hours later.

The police said rescuers had to cut through the twisted debris just to retrieve Ochea’s body, which was pinned inside the front of the truck.

“Patay na g’yud; guba pud ang crane,” said PO3 Menardo Boligor, one of the responding police officers.

The rescuers tried bringing Villacin to the Minglanilla District Hospital but he was already dead. Ochea was no longer brought to the hospital.

Boligor  said the crane truck (UIB 423) was negotiating a downhill portion of the road when Ochea most likely lost control of the steering wheel due to a mechanical problem.

The victims were traveling towards Cebu City from Toledo City at that time.

“Possible sa (it was the) brakes ang guba ani sa among tan-aw (that malfunctioned; that is how we see it),” Boligor told The FREEMAN in a telephone interview.

Mantalaba said it could be that Ochea fell asleep while driving.

A witness told the police that the truck was traveling at high speed before it swerved to the left straight into Villacencio’s house and into the ravine.

The crane truck is currently placed under the custody of the City of Naga police.— /RHM (FREEMAN)