An off-duty soldier died on the spot, while his civilian companion was seriously injured, after the motorcycle they were riding rammed into an astray carabao in Barangay Manuel Roxas, Santo Niño, South Cotabato, before dawn on Thursday, October 16.
The accident fatality belonged to an Army unit based in the province, whose full name local executives and officials of the Santo Ñino Municipal Police Station withheld on the behest of the victim’s family.
Municipal police officials said the Honda Wave that figured in the accident is owned by Eden Pueden Clarin, a resident of Purok Tagumpay in Barangay San Isidro, Santo Niño.
The motorcycle was driven by Denice, 27, a member of the Philippine Army, who died instantly from injuries sustained in the incident that left his companion, the 28-year-old John, badly injured.
Local government officials and personnel of the Santo Ñino Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said the duo was on their way to the center of the municipality when they hit a female carabao along the route.
The carabao, which crippled by the accident, was lifted by emergency responders to one side of the highway, its two hind legs both broken, according to barangay officials.
Barangay officials in Manuel Roxas and policemen who responded to the incident said they will compel the owner of the astray carabao to help facilitate the burial of the soldier who died in the peculiar highway mishap.