“The next of kin asked that the name of the operator be kept confidential,” Department of Public Safety public information officer Dre Pangelinan said on Wednesday.
He said the witness who saw the vehicle driving off the cliff was also questioned by the authorities, but the person provided no other details other than what the witness stated on the 911 call.
DPS and the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Search and Rescue Unit, or SARU, team were immediately dispatched to the scene following the 911 call.
Pangelinan said they found the Toyota Tacoma in a heavily vegetated area just below the cliff line.
The vehicle had caught on fire and a body was found partially pinned underneath the pickup, burned beyond recognition, he added.
“Based on an observation of the scene, it appears that the operator was ejected [from] the vehicle,” Pangelinan said.
Authorities have sealed off the Suicide Cliff lookout area where a vehicle drove off the cliff on Tuesday. Photo by K-Andrea Evarose S. Limol
The responding officers and search and rescue unit then conducted a “walk-through of the lookout area and found a license plate near the damaged Suicide Cliff lookout railing,” Pangelinan said.
“After this discovery, the vehicle owner was identified and is believed to have been the operator of the vehicle during the incident,” he added.
Pangelinan said no skid marks were found in the Suicide Cliff lookout area, adding that the case has yet to be classified and is still under investigation.
