A construction worker from Pandan who was killed when his motorcycle crashed into the seawall barrier along the boulevard in Virac last Sept. 27, 2024 was not wearing a protective helmet at the time of the accident.
The Virac police said John Mark Rafael, 20, of Tabugoc, Pandan, also had no driver’s license and had just come from a drinking session together with backrider Richard Cantes, 17, also a construction worker and resident of Capilihan,
The incident occurred at 9:54 PM that evening in barangay Rawis, with a concerned citizen reporting the matter to the police about an hour later.
By that time, the victim and his injured companion were already taken by citizens to the Eastern Bicol Medical Center.
According to the report of the Virac MPS team headed by investigator PCpl. Eric Gomez, Rafael and Cantes were on board a Motor Star Zest 110R motorcycle with no plate number and stopped for fuel at a gas station in Gogon after coming from a drinking session.
As they were heading home along the boulevard, the driver failed to make the left turn at the sharp curve about 50 meters before Maudelle’s Bar.
Instead, the motorcycle headed straight and crashed into the concrete barrier, throwing both Rafael and Cantes off the vehicle and into the pavement.
Attending physician Dr. Peter Villamor pronounced Rafael dead upon arrival, with the cause of death listed as traumatic brain injury due to the victim’s head hitting the barrier at the side of the boulevard road.
The following day, a student from Bato town was injured when his bicycle collided with a parked vehicle along the national highway in Marinawa.
John Clarence Padilla Francisco, 18, of San Pedro, had to be hospitalized after his silver-colored mountain bike hit the orange Ford EcoSport that its driver, CHDI nurse Jaime Aldea Teves, Jr., 57, a resident of Valencia, Virac, had parked at the road shoulder at 7:50 PM of Sept. 28.
The victim sustained injuries at the different parts of his body and was taken to the Bato Maternity and Children’s Hospital for treatment.