Student killed, 18 hurt in Bacolod smashup

MANILA, Philippines – A 16-year-old student was killed and 18 people were injured in a 10-vehicle smashup in the central Philippine city of Bacolod in Negros Occidental province on Thursday morning, police said. Senior Inspector Levy Pangue, chief of the Bacolod police’s Traffic Management Unit, said the lone fatality was identified as Carel Torianes, a student of the Colegio de San Agustin-Bacolod. Two of the 18 injured in the road accident were reportedly in critical condition. The victims were undergoing treatment at the Riverside Medical Center and the Doctors Hospital, Pangue told GMANews.TV by phone. He said the 7:15 a.m. smashup occurred when a gasoline tanker that came from Cadiz City, northeast of Bacolod, slammed into a cluster of vehicles at an intersection on the circumferential Lacson Street in the barrio of Bata. Driver Jeffrey Galleron, 27, told investigators that his brakes failed and he lost control of the truck, according to the officer. “Sinubukan niyang i-maniobra kaso hindi na niya nakayanan (He tried maneuvering the truck but he failed)," Pangue said. He said the lone fatality, who suffered major head injuries, was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Most of the 18 victims were said to be passengers of the jeepney, while one was driving a motorcycle. Galleron is currently detained and could be charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and multiple physical injuries, depending on the findings of investigators, said Pangue. - GMANews.TV