Truck falls off cliff in southern Philippines, 15 dead
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Rescue workers standing next to a flatbed truck after it fell into a ravine in T'Boli town, South Cotabato province, the Philippines, on Sept 17, 2019.
PHOTO: AFP/ROLLY AQUINO
MANILA (DPA) - Fifteen people were killed when the truck they were travelling on fell off a cliff in the southern Philippines on Tuesday morning (Sept 17), police and local emergency officials said.
The truck was travelling in the town of T'Boli in South Cotabato province, 1,030km south of Manila, when the accident happened, police said.
Emergency teams recovered 15 bodies from the site of the accident, said Rolly Aquino, an officer with the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office.
The total number of passengers in the truck was not yet confirmed, and some victims were also rushed to nearby hospitals, Aquino said.
"The cause of the accident has yet to be determined but most probably the driver lost control of the vehicle, or the brakes failed or there were problems with the tyres," he said in a video posted on Facebook.
In the video, bodies of the victims were lined along the road for identification, while rescuers continued to search for and retrieve victims from the accident site.
