A five-year-old girl and a 28-year-old male were killed while four were injured after a sports utility vehicle (SUV) rammed into the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on Sunday morning.

The SUV was parked near the terminal entrance around 8 am when it suddenly crashed into the west departure curbside area near the entrance of NAIA Terminal 1, a police report said. The driver of the SUV was arrested by police and is at the NAIA Police Station 1.

Three injured persons were brought to a nearby hospital. One of the injured refused medical treatment, police said.

The suspect, who drove the black Ford Everest, identified as "Leo Sinlao Gonzales", 47, a hardware driver, claimed that as he was about to leave after dropping off his passenger in the terminal "a sedan suddenly passed in front of him, causing him to forget to transfer his foot to the brake pedal, which resulted in his vehicle striking several people who were standing in the said area".

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said in a statement that "initial review of the CCTV footage showed the driver of the SUV dropping off a passenger which indicates that there was no premeditated plan to inflict harm on the NAIA passengers but the investigation is still ongoing".

The child was the daughter of an OFW whose family was bringing him to the airport, said Dizon in ambush interview. The parents of the child survived. There was no information of the other fatality.

"The driver will be subjected to mandatory drug testing by the SOCO, by the PNP, and we will also have to look at the other angles of the CCTV footage so let's wait for that", Dizon told reporters in a chance interview at NAIA Terminal 1.

New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) said in a statement on Facebook that NNIC President Ramon Ang personally provided assistance to the victims of the incident by shouldering "medical expenses of the four individuals who were injured and providing financial assistance to the families of the two who died in the incident".

“This is a very tragic incident. Our priority now is to make sure the victims and their families receive the support and care they need”, Ang said.

The West Passenger Entrance-1 where the incident took place was closed around four hours before it was reopened at 12 noon, NAIA said.

In a separate statement, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) " has preventively suspended for 90 days the driver’s license of the motorist behind the fatal accident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1".

"We already issued an SCO asking both the registered owner and the driver to appear before our office and explain the incident as part of our investigation,” LTO chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II said.Marie Manalili/DMS