SAGADA, Mountain Province/TUBA, Benguet - Sixteen people, including seven Koreans and four children, were severely injured in separate road accidents happening on Sunday in the towns of Sagada in Mountain Province and Tuba in Benguet.
Nine people remained in critical condition at a Bontoc hospital as of press time Monday after their van plunged into a 100-meter deep ravine in the middle of a heavy downpour in Barangay Antadao in Sagada, last Sunday afternoon.
Senior Inspector Benedict Del-Ong, chief of police of the Sagada Municipal Police Station, identified the injured as Melanie Eslao Timmango, 37, married; Maggie Dalang Agyao, 40, married; Luisa Eslao, 70, married; Rose Santong Cadaweng, 53, married; and the van driver, Benito Bing-il, 26, single, all residents of Besao, Mountain Province.
Del-Ong did not give the names of the four injured children, aged 3, 4, 9, and 11.
He quoted traffic probers as saying that the slippery uphill road contributed to the accident when Bing-il lost control of the van which veered off the road and into the ravine at 4:20 p.m.
Concerned residents were quick to rescue the victims, taking them to the St. Theodore's Hospital in downtown before being transferred to the Bontoc General Hospital in Bontoc for further treatment.
Del-Ong said the portion of the Dantay-Sagada-Besao-Nacawang national road where the van crashed was an accident prone area, especially when rains make the road slippery.
Meanwhile, seven Koreans, five of them children, suffered serious injuries ranging from bone fractures to wounds and bruises when their Baguio City-bound van rammed into a parked bus on Marcos Highway in Barangay Taloy Sur in Tuba the other night.
Superintendent Leon Tallo, public information officer of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in Cordillera, said the driver of the van, Hyin Kim, alias ''Daniel Kim,'' 41, married, marketing manager of the Philippine International English Institute and resident of Monterasas, Tuding, Itogon, Benguet, was among the injured.
