CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 14 September) — Four children on their way home after attending a madrasah Friday in Malabang town in Lanao del Sur were killed when an old tree fell and hit the pedicab they were riding.
Police Staff Sergeant Jabber Macasasar of the Malabang police station said the tree was felled by strong winds.
Strong winds and rains caused by the southwest monsoon and enhanced by tropical storm Bebinca toppled trees and destroyed houses in Lanao del Sur.
Macasasar said the children, with ages between 11 and 14 years old, were crushed to death on the pedicab.
He said the driver and two other children were rushed to the nearby Dr. Serapio Montaner Al-Haj Memorial Hospital.
Shal Sambitory, Lanao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Office duty officer, said the province had been battered by rains and strong gusts of winds since Friday and 20 houses in Binidayan town have already been damaged.
“Pa bugso-bugso (intermittent). But the rains are strong and the gusts of winds go up to 30 kilometers per hour,” Sambitory told MindaNews.
He said all of their teams are on alert following instructions from Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, who ordered immediate relief assistance to the affected residents. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
