A boom truck loaded with concrete posts slid off the road in a curved portion of the national highway in Caramoran last week, causing injuries to 12 workers of a telecommunications company.
According to the report, the six-wheeler boom truck owned by a contractor of the Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications (PLDT) was traversing the winding road at barangay Salvacion when the driver, Marvin Bergonio, 29, of Manambrag, San Andres, lost control of the vehicle.
As a result, most of the rear part of the truck fell off the road and into the slope of the ravine, with its descent stopped by the left front wheel’s getting snagged by the guardrail.
The injured laborers were identified as Noriel Calumpad, 20, John Francis Arcilla, 22, and Ian Ruiz, 30, all of District I, Gigmoto; and, Joseph Clavano, 52, Agosto Nazareno, 50, John Lester delos Reyes, 19, Jordan Barro, 20, Darwin Tacorda, 25, Melchor del Rosario, 21, Miguel Nazareno, 21, and Noli delos Reyes, 44, all of Manambrag, San Andres.
The laborers as well as the driver were rushed to San Andres where the nearest hospital is located.
On the way, one of the vehicles transporting seven victims was met at the highway in Codon by personnel of the San Andres Fire Station and the San Andres MDRRMO, who were responding to the call for assistance regarding the mass casualty incident.
The two teams immediately performed victim management, First Aid and victim packaging on the still conscious laborers before they were sent on the way to Juan M. Alberto Memorial District Hospital.
An investigator of the Caramoran police station said that the descending road at Salvacion was slightly steep and curving at the section where the accident occurred.
An industry source told the Tribune that the truck and the workers belong to a Chinese contractor of PLDT which won some of the line installation projects in Catanduanes.