N. Cotabato highway mishap hurts 12

PIGCAWAYAN, North Cotabato -- At least 12 persons were hurt when a truck they were riding figured in a vehicular accident in Barangay New Culasi here Wednesday, police said.Senior Police Officer 3 Dante Lopez, traffic case investigator, said the truck, more popularly known in the locality as double-tire,” suffered mechanical problem and fell into a cliff then hit a tree at past 7 p.m. in Barangay New Culasi, Pigcawayan, North CotabatoThe victims sustained bruises in different parts of their body while others sustained fractures.Police the truck has about 25 passengers and some cargoes inside and atop it.As the vehicle, both cargo and passenger truck, was negotiating an uphill and curve dirt road, its driver, Misdael Bendor, tried but failed to sustain the climb after its engine stopped.Investigators said the truck’s engine stopped when its transmission gear malfunction, causing the vehicle to cascade backward until it fell on a cliff and hit an oil palm tree. Had it not for the oil palm tree, the truck could have skidded down to 70 feet cliff, Lopez said in a radio interview. Luckily, nobody was killed,” he added.The passengers were rushed by rescue units to various hospitals in Poblacion Pigcawayan and in Cotabato City.The driver was among the injured and the truck owner vowed to extend financial and medical aid to victims.