Three people were killed while six others sustained serious injuries in a road accident Thursday morning along the national highway in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental, involving two motorcycles and a sedan.
Initial police investigation identified the dead as Memita Borromeo Fernandez, Restituto Gorneo and Agusto Buquiran. No other personal details of the fatalities were available at press time, the Tanjay police said.
The injured were identified as Michael Sibala, 33, Niña Janet Miraflor, 31, Donna May Siwa, 31, Pierre Albert Muñoz, 34, Marissa Cabcaban, and Alberto Cabcaban, 20, all residents of Tanjay City, a police report said.
Early investigation showed that Sibala, Miraflor, Siwa and Muñoz were in a Toyota Corona sedan headed towards Tanjay from Dumaguete City around 6:45 a.m. Thursday, when upon reaching Barangay Tugas, Tanjay City, a Racal motorcycle driven by Marissa Cabcaban with riders Alberto Cabcaban and Memita Fernandez allegedly suddenly appeared on the national highway from crossing Puyao, the police said.
The sedan, driven by Sibala, allegedly hit the Racal motorcycle from behind before the car also collided with another motorcycle coming from the opposite direction — a Honda 125 cc driven by Agusto Buquiran with a lone rider, Restituto Gorneo, said PO3 Marlo Ragay of the Tanjay police station.
According to initial police investigation, the car was allegedly running so fast that after it hit the two motorcycles, it crashed into an acacia tree, said PO3 Ragay. The car was a total wreck with its passengers brought to a hospital in Dumaguete. One of the passengers, Siwa, was at the Intensive Care Unit for serious injuries, Ragay added.
Memita Fernandez and Restituto Gorneo died on the spot, while Agusto Buquiran died later after being brought to a private hospital in Dumaguete.
Tanjay police investigators are still digging deeper into the accident to determine who was to be held responsible for the deaths and injuries, said PO3 Ragay. (PNA)
