Drivers killed in Viga collision

Two persons, including a policeman, were killed instantly in Viga town last Friday afternoon when their vehicles collided head-on, seriously injuring two passengers.

The report received by PNP provincial director Supt. Rolando O. Gonzales identified the fatalities as SPO1 Henry Mercado Icawat, 42, single, and one Danilo "Alago" Frias, also in his mid-40s.

The report stated that at 1:30 P.M. of November 3, SPO1 Icawat was on board his Yamaha DT-125 sport motorcycle along with backrider Nestor Cabanganan y Bacsal, 50, married and barangay tanod executive officer of Quezon when the mishap occurred.

The duo were on their way to deliver a subpoena in barangay Penafrancia when their motorcycle smashed into the driver's side of the Suzuki X-4 tricycle with plate number EX-4818 driven by Frias near sitio Canbateriya near barangay Banquerohan. The vehicles were going in opposite directions when they met on a paved portion of the national road.

Reliable sources say that although the site of the mishap was on a slight bend, there was no way one of the drivers could not have noticed the oncoming vehicle. They also claimed that SPO1 Icawat was under the influence of liquor when the accident transpired. It was not immediately known whether the lawman had a safety helmet on his head.

Frias and Icawat suffered broken skulls and other grievous bodily injuries and were declared dead on arrival at the Viga district hospital. Cabanganan reportedly broke his left arm and left leg while sustaining a wound on the forehead while the tricycle's lone passenger, Veronica Santos y Tumala, 79, a widow of Cabuyoan in nearby Panganiban, also fractured her left arm and leg.

The vehicular accident is eerily similar to a separate incident in Cabugao, Bato several months back, where a Yamaha V-50 motorcycle crashed into the driver's side of a Yamaha RS-100 tricycle going in the opposite direction. Both drivers also died at the scene due to fatal head injuries, with the motorcyclist defying the LTO's admonition for all motorcycle drivers to wear safety helmets.