For the second time in as three weeks, a backrider has been killed in a motorcycle accident that the Catanduanes police attributed to reckless driving.
The report likewise indicated that the three San Andres residents involved in the Feb. 15, 2025 mishap were intoxicated while driver Rey Santelices Masagca Jr., 34, of Sapang Palay, was maneuvering his Suzuki Raider 150 along the national road at Calabnigan, Virac, at 4:10 AM, with Michael Viliran Vidal, 34, of Esperanza, and Jonathan Barba Vargas, 34, as backriders.
Virac police personnel disclosed that upon reaching a curved portion of the highway, the driver fell asleep, with the motorcycle and its riders falling into a concrete canal.
MDRRMO personnel brought the three seriously injured men to the Eastern Bicol Medical Center but Vargas was declared dead on arrival due to traumatic brain injury.
It may be recalled that on Jan. 28, 2025, a Bato student’s girlfriend died when he lost control of the motorcycle he was driving and crashed into a parked tricycle along the highway.