BURNT REMAINS. For the nth time in this road, two fuel tanker trucks, both traveling downhill collided and caught fire along a portion of the highway known for vehicle crashes in Purok Pagasa, Barangay Nagpan in Malungon town, Sarangani. MindaNews photo by ROMMEL REBOLLIDO
MALUNGON, Sarangani (MindaNews / 02 May) – Around 40,000 liters of gasoline and diesel fuel went up in smoke in a freak accident in a mishap-prone portion of the GenSan-Digos highway at Purok Pagasa, Barangay Nagpan here early dawn Sunday, May 1.
Police said two fully-loaded fuel tankers collided, careened on their sides and caught fire, the flames catching nearby trees as fuel leaking from the tankers flowed across the highway.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovenson Bayona, Malungon police chief, said both trucks, which were travelling in the same direction, were each fully loaded with 20,000 liters of flammable fuel when one crashed unto the other while they were negotiating a downhill curve.
One of the drivers, Philip Sesaldo, 32, a resident of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, was rushed to a hospital for slight injuries. The other driver, Manny Remedios, 39, a resident of Davao City, was unhurt.
Police Lieutenant Wennie Perez, Malungon police spokesperson, said the two fuel tankers, owned by Super Soy Commercial Center, came from a fuel depot in Bawing, General Santos City and headed to Digos City, where they were to deliver their cargoes to ATA-Sea Oil Gas-up and Service Center.
Remedios told police probers that while descending on an accident-prone sharp curve, he tried to apply brakes but failed and lost control of his vehicle, subsequently crashing on Sesaldo’s tanker truck.
Malungon firemen managed to declare fire out at around 4 a.m. the conflagration that began past 2 a.m.
The Bureau of Fire Protection pegged the damage at about P8 million. (Rommel Rebollido / MindaNews)
