4 hurt in Mlang highway mishap

MLANG, North Cotabato -- Four people were hurt when a passenger van they are riding turned turtle and plunged into a roadsiderice field Wednesday afternoon. Ferdinand Pinol, Mlangadministrator, said the passenger van was heading to the town proper from nearby Tulunan, also in North Cotabato, when its driver lost control of the steering wheel along a curve portion of a highway in Barangay Sangat.Pinol said before the vehicle plunged intothe rice field, it hitmahogany tree in front of Sangat Elementary School. There were fourpassengers wounded when rescuers arrived, Pinol said, adding that Mlang rescue unit were dispatched quickly to the accident site but it took them sometime to retrieve the wounded victims who were trapped. They sustained minor injuries and were rushed to ahospital in Tulunan. They were already out of danger, physicians said. It's a hit and run, literally, said Pinol. The passenger van hit the mahogany tree, fell into the rice fieldand that the driver ran, Pinol stressed. He suspected that the driver could be driving a colorum vehicle or driving without license thus he fled. Pinol appealed to drivers of all vehicles todrive carefully as a well-paved road normally gets slippery when wet.