COTABATO CITY — Thirteen passengers of a commuter van were burned to death after their vehicle went up in flames after a high-speed collision with a dump truck in Cotabato province, southern Philippines on Monday.
Witnesses said the impact of the collision in Barangay Luhong, Antipas town, was so forceful that the passenger van first flipped, rolled over and then plunged into a flood control ditch before bursting into flames.
The dump truck turned-turtle and landed on its side some six meters away from the van and also caught fire.
Policemen and municipal officials have identified only six of the 13 fatalities by 4 p.m. Monday.
Col. Gilbert Balneg Tuzon, Cotabato provincial police director, said on Monday afternoon that probers from the Antipas Municipal Police Station and personnel of the Antipas Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office are still trying to determine which vehicle was at fault. — John Felix M. Unson
