Truck accident causes traffic jam in landslide-prone Dalton Pass

BAYOMBONG, Philippines – A truck accient rendered Dalton Pass, the gateway to Cagayan Valley, impassable Tuesday night, stranding thousands of travelers for at least 13 hours, authorities said Wednesday. Reports said the traffic jam along the borders of Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija provinces was caused by a heavily loaded 10-wheeler truck that lost its balance as it tried to avoid a portion of the highway that was under repair. The truck’s flatbed trailer blocked both lanes of the road, forcing hundreds of vehicles coming to and from Cagayan, to a standstill, officials said. Senior Inspector Jeff Bulong, police chief of Santa Fe town in Nueva Vizcaya, said slippery a road due to torrential rains that had battered the province made the winding stretch of the mountain road difficult to negotiate. Authorities counted more than 300 vehicles on both lanes of the highway, with passengers deciding to sleep for the night at the landslide-prone area until it was completely cleared of obstruction at around 7 a.m. Wednesday. The slippery road and a nearby road construction had delayed the removal of the truck, forcing thousands of passengers and millions of pesos worth of goods stranded. Earlier, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that incessant rains had already caused millions of pesos worth of damage to various sections of the national highway, especially those leading to parts of the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley. Highway officials said millions worth of road projects were affected by the constant rain and mudflow. A bridge in the Mountain Province linking the Bontoc-Ifugao-Nueva Vizcaya road also collapsed due to rains, authorities said. - GMANews.TV