BALANGA CITY – A truck driver died while his two helpers were seriously injured when their trailer truck loaded with a road grader fell below a bridge here early morning of Wednesday due to alleged faulty brakes.
Police identified the fatality as Cristobal Aquino, 37, and the injured as Mario Mendoza, 43, and Mark Vincent Carreon, 37, who were all rushed to the Bataan General Hospital here where the driver died while being treated.
Report showed that the two truck helpers were in the hospital’s operating room.
Villagers along the way said that about 5 a.m., they heard loud and continuous honking of the big truck while it was going down the steep zigzag road in Barangay Cabog-Cabog.
The trailer truck instead of traversing the left lane turned right and crashed at the railing of the bridge and fell down the river while hitting the trunk of a big tree.
The front portion of the trailer truck was a total wreck while the road grader slipped from the truck and turned on its side below the bridge.
Ricky Moral, a resident nearby, said the driver jumped out of the truck before it fell down below the bridge while the two helpers remained in the vehicle. He said the victims were with broken bones.
“Pagliko diyan, hindi na nakabig kaya tuloy-tuloy sila diyan,” Moral said while pointing the foot of the bridge in the zigzag road and the river below.
He said that villagers along the way noticed that the truck was going down the road fast and successively honking the horn due to the failure of the brake system.
Asked what he heard afterwards, Moral said “kumalampag”.
Police said investigation was still going on.
