Bontoc mishap victims identified

BONTOC, Mountain Province — Three men were killed and two others remain missing after a multi-vehicle collision caused an Elf truck to plunge into the Chico River in Bontoc on Monday morning.

The Bontoc Emergency Operations Center received a report around 6 a.m. about a vehicular traffic accident on the Bontoc-Tabuk Enrile Road in Barangay Tocucan involving a blue Elf truck, a Ford Fiera and a mini-dump truck.

Initial reports indicate the Elf truck struck two vehicles parked on the roadside, sending it down an estimated 150 to 170 meters into the river.

Three bodies were retrieved at the site and declared dead on the spot. They were identified by co-workers as the driver, Zoren Jay Tala of Zamboanga, and passengers Rogelio dela Cruz and Jessie Galicia, both of Pangasinan.

Their remains were brought to the Bontoc General Hospital.

Search, Rescue and Retrieval (SRR) teams are continuing to search for the two remaining victims, identified as Carlo Ancheta and Edmund Romeo, both from Pangasinan.

All five victims were employees of Balintaugan Construction and were traveling to a construction site in Kuro-Kuro, Sadanga, Mountain Province.

As of 1 p.m. Monday, SRR teams had yet to locate the two missing individuals. Responders from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Philippine National Police and the Red Cross are involved in the operation.

Authorities noted that the treacherous, 30-minute route from the roadside to the crash site and the river’s strong current pose major challenges.

Also, coordination has been made with authorities in nearby Tinglayan, Kalinga, for a joint search should the bodies be swept farther downstream.