8 hurt as jeepney slams into tree in Pasig City

JEEP VS TREE A lazy Sunday turned into a crazy day for eight passengers of this jeepney which crashed into a tree on Lanuza Street, Pasig City. —JODEE A. AGONCILLO

Eight people were hurt on Sunday morning when a passenger jeepney approaching Green Meadows in Barangay Ugong, Pasig City, crashed into a tree on Sunday morning.

SPO1 Erwin Lombredas, case investigator of the Pasig City Police’s Vehicle Traffic Investigation Unit, said the Isuzu jeepney with plate number DVC 479 was headed east on Lanuza Street around 9 a.m. when the crash occurred.

Responding traffic enforcer Bonifacio Semolva identified the injured as Gym Pelle, 32, of Las Piñas; Dexter Bulanda of Antipolo City; Ramona Bicondo, 61, and Stephen Grado, 21, of Pasig City; Inocencio Loreto, 50, of Taytay, Rizal; Manuel Ramos, 60; Yasmin Estabaya Silo, 57; and John Silo of Mandaluyong City.

According to Lombredas, vehicles in the area at that time were traveling fast as traffic was light.

The jeepney driver, 22-year-old Terrence John Namoro, told the Inquirer that he crashed the jeepney after he tried to avoid a van which was turning left.

Namoro said that he turned the steering wheel sharply to the right but when he maneuvered it back to the left, it locked. The jeep headed straight into the gutter and crashed into a tree, he told investigators.

Lombredas said no case had been filed against the driver as their investigation was still ongoing. -Jodee A. Agoncillo