Toddler, 2 Others Die in Separate Road Accidents in Quezon

LUCENA CITY — Three people, including a 2-year-old boy, died in separate road accidents in Quezon province on Tuesday, police said. The boy was playing along the road in Barangay Sampaloc 2, Sariaya town, when a speeding Toyota Tamaraw utility vehicle driven by a construction worker hit him at 2:30 p.m., according to a police report on Wednesday. The vehicle did not stop and continued traveling. The boy’s brother pursued the vehicle and reported the incident to the barangay office. Police subsequently arrived and arrested the driver. The boy’s mother had rushed the seriously injured victim to a hospital in the town proper, but he died about an hour later while undergoing treatment. The driver remains in police custody and is facing appropriate criminal charges. Later in the evening, in another part of Sampaloc 2, a motorcycle without a plate number and driven by an adolescent was struck from behind by a Toyota pickup truck along the Maharlika Highway at 7:50 p.m. The motorcycle rider and his back rider, also a minor, were thrown off the motorcycle upon impact and landed on the front portion of another incoming truck. Both sustained injuries and were taken by rescuers to the Quezon Medical Center in Lucena City, where the back rider was declared dead on arrival. Police detained the drivers of both trucks. Meanwhile, in Pitogo town, a 42-year-old barangay health worker was fatally struck by an Isuzu D-Max along the provincial road in Barangay Bilucao at 6:30 a.m. Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve, causing it to overshoot the road’s right shoulder and hit the victim. The health worker suffered severe injuries and was rushed to a hospital in neighboring Gumaca town, where the victim was declared dead on arrival. Police said the parties involved were working to settle the matter amicably./coa