Child emerges unscathed from highway cliff fall in Leyte

A child emerged unhurt from a road incident on Saturday that saw a vehicle falling off a cliff in Ormoc City in Leyte.

GMA News stringer Ronnie Roa said that the child was sitting on the lap of a sleeping, seat-belted passenger of the white sports utility vehicle (SUV) that fell into a cliff after hitting the rear part of another SUV that strayed into the opposite lane alongside a cliff.

The impact of the contact sent the white SUV careening into the cliff, said Roa.

While the seat-belted passenger suffered minor abrasions, the driver of the white SUV was seen hobbling after clambering back onto the highway, the report said, adding that the child was unscathed. 

Charito Morimonte, the driver of the white SUV, was quoted as saying that he was driving in the vicinity of Barangay Libertad when a speeding SUV suddenly strayed into his lane.

To avoid a head-on collision, he swerved right but the other vehicle sideswiped the rear-end of his SUV.

"Ang nangyari nagkasulubong kami, yung sasakyan pumunta na sa aming lane, umiwas ako sa tabi, tumama pa rin sa may likuran sa gilid, ng tumama sumirko na kami kaya nahulog kami," Morimonte said in Cebuano.

Meanwhile, the driver of the SUV that hit Morimento's vehicle surrendered to a police manning a checkpoint near the area. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/LBG, GMA News