ILOILO City – A 61-year-old woman died and four others were injured after their top-down tricycle was hit by a sport utility vehicle (SUV) in Barangay Balantang, Jaro district on Wednesday night, February 26.
Alias “Del”, a resident of the said village, succumbed to severe head and body injuries.
Patrolman Kem John Pendon of the Iloilo City Traffic Enforcement Unit said alias “Yanyan, the driver of the tricycle, sustained injuries in the different part of his body and was recuperating at the hospital, while his three other passengers had minor body injuries.
Initial investigation showed that the top-down tricycle was transporting vegetables from Zone 1, Barangay Balantang to Iloilo Terminal Market when the Toyota Fortuner rammed the former from behind at around 11:50 p.m.
Police identified the SUV driver as alias “Troy”, 18, who had his driver’s license for less than a year.
Pendon said the teen driver claimed he was driving at 60 to 70 kilometers per hour but admitted he miscalculated his speed, causing him to fail to brake in time and collided with the top-down tricycle.
The SUV driver was taken into custody by the Iloilo City Police Station 3 for proper disposition.
Meanwhile, the barangay council of Balantang said several personal belongings of the victims were nowhere to be found.
“Palihog sa ara sa scene sang aksidente kagab-i kun sin-o sa inyo ang naka himus sang gamit sang mga biktima palihog balik sa barangay hall sang Balantang. Importante gid ang mga ID kag cellphone sang mga biktima,” it said in a Facebook post yesterday, February 27./PN
