14 Hurt in Sulu Highway Accident Involving Army Crane Truck

Fourteen individuals were injured in a highway accident involving a boom-type lifter crane truck of the Army’s 545th Engineering Brigade and five vehicles in Barangay Kajadtian in Indanan town, Sulu, on Friday, July 31. Officials of the Sulu Provincial Police Office and local executives told reporters on Saturday that all 14 villagers hurt in the accident were immediately brought by policemen and local government emergency responders to the Sulu Provincial Hospital in nearby Jolo town for treatment. The victims were passengers on two Tamaraw FX and three tricycles that were hit by a wayward Army lifter crane truck after its driver reportedly lost control of the wheel due to mechanical trouble while he was driving through a secluded stretch of a highway in Barangay Kajadtian. The ill-fated 10-wheeled heavy equipment also rammed a house along the route where it stopped, damaging the structure, made only of semi-permanent materials. Municipal and barangay officials said the soldier driving the heavy equipment that figured in the accident voluntarily yielded to investigators from the Indanan Municipal Police Station who responded to the incident. The local government unit of Indanan and officials of the 545th Engineering Brigade had extended initial fund assistance to the villagers injured in the accident for them to have something to spend for their medication in a hospital. This incident highlights broader issues concerning the safety management of military vehicles involved in infrastructure projects or operations in rural Philippines, and their impact on civilian life. It underscores the importance of safety protocols when military equipment operates on public roads, interacting with civilian vehicles and communities.