Motorist dead, 9 badly hurt in Digos City highway accident

COTABATO CITY - A motorist died instantly while a driver and eight commuters were seriously hurt in an accident involving a motorcycle, a passenger van, and a petroleum tanker in Digos City in Davao del Sur at about noon Tuesday.

In an official report dispatched to media outfits Wednesday, the Davao del Sur Provincial Police Office said a van, driven by Roy Eligrino, first hit sideway the large tanker truck, or lorry, while overtaking at a stretch of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Barangay Matti in Digos City.

The van and lorry were both en route to Davao City, according to the Davao del Sur PPO.

Witnesses had told police investigators that the van wiggled after hitting the side of the lorry, swerved towards the other lane, and collided head-on with a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction of the highway.

The van flipped, rolled over, and landed on its side after hitting the motorcycle, killing its rider, Jeffrey Nuñez instantly.

So strong was the impact of the collision that Nunez was thrown off his motorcycle and plunged underneath the cowl of the lorry driven by Noel Magbulugtong.

Eligrino and his eight passengers, Jessio Diono, Mark Fernandez, Abubakar Basal, Jade Toni Belo, Reyna Rose Ferolino, Amie Bengil, Darryl Pagunsan, and Rea Joy Tan, were seriously injured in the accident.

Magbulugtong, immediately turned over his driver’s license to a team from the Digos City Police Office that responded to the incident.

The Davao del Sur PPO had reportedly impounded the three vehicles that figured in the accident.