7 killed, 17 hurt in North Cotabato road accident

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Seven people died while 17 others were hurt in a road crash Friday afternoon in North Cotabato, in what authotirities consider as one of the worst road accidents in the province since 2012. Of those killed, four were students of the Saint Benedict College-College of Nursing based in Parang, Maguindanao. Chief Inspector Jordine Maribojo of the Pikit Police said the students were on their way to Cruzado Hospital in Pikit town for their internship. Maribojo identified the seven fatalities as Mohamed Samil Ali, van driver; Solayman Macaindeg; Musa Bacuna; and nursing students Sittie Haymiyah Ibrahim, Umayrah Abutazil, Potri Sauya Mansa, and Judy. The vicitims were on a Toyota Hi-Ace van plying the Cotabato-Pikit route, reports said, adding it was speeding too fast while negotiating a blind curve near the the Aleosan and Pikit towns boundary at about 12:10 p.m.    “Maybe the driver forgot other vehicles could be coming from the opposite lane of the curve... so the collision happened,” said Maribojo. The van first hit a passenger Lawin jeepney and later rammed a military truck.   Both the jeepney and the military vehicle were on their way to Cotabato City when the accident took place. Also, he said the impact of the collision was too “forceful” that the van “split in two” after it hit the two vehicles. Four of the van's passengers died on the spot, three passed away while being treated at a hospital. The 17 people who were injured are all in critical condition, Maribojo said. Those injured were passengers of the Lawin jeepney and the military truck, he added. — Malu Cadelina Manar /LBG, GMA News