PAGADIAN CITY – Three people were killed and 18 others wounded in two separate road accidents in Zamboanga del Sur province in southern Philippines, police said Thursday.
Police said a provincial bus crashed in a house before falling in a creek killing its driver and a female passenger in Tigbao town.
It said the driver, Macario Omac, 46, apparently lost control of the bus in Maragang village while negotiating a slope and hit the house before falling on its side and resting in the creek killing him and Baharan Aurea Maulod.
“The bus was heading to Pagadian City from Zamboanga City when the accident occurred and killing the driver and a passenger,” said Senior Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman.
The bus operator, Rural Transit Mindanao, Inc. did not release any statement on the accident, but photos released by the police showed the heavily damaged bus and the fatalities.
Samuddin said 17 passengers were also injured in the crash late Wednesday and had been rushed to hospitals by policemen led by Senior Inspector Norbert Velonza, of the local police force. He said no house occupants were hurt in the crash.
The injured were identified as bus conductor Rolando Simbahon, 30, of Pagadian City; Rosally Curaza, 32, of Lanao Del Norte; Robert Alvin Balahim, 26, of Zamboanga City; Rodeza Ferrer, 22, of Zamboanga City; Rodolfo Alfaro Jr., 33, of Zamboanga City; Gregorio Robin Salazar, 26, of Zamboanga City; Engr. George Jocutan, 38, of Zamboanga City; Alberto Soria, 64, of Iligan City; Leokin Lim Kalbi, 65, of Tawi-Tawi; Saida Lapasaran, 35, of Pagadian City; Jose Tan, 25, of Zamboanga City; Efraim Mecines, 25, of North Cotabato; Luis Dogoc, 51, of Zamboanga Del Sur; Lizabel Caoile, 50, of Zamboanga City; Leizyl Divinagracia, 28, of Zamboanga Del Norte; Rey Bentoy, 41, of Lamitan City; and Yury Gagarin, 34, of
Samuddin said another Rural Transit bus driven by Ariel Lador, 46, hit two students killing one of them and the other in critical condition in Pagadian City.
He said the students – Daryl Perio-Perio and Alberto Fiel, both seven years old – were trying to cross the pedestrian lane in front of the Camp Abelon Elementary School in Lumbia District when the bus hit them. The victims, both residents of Tiguma village, were rushed to the hospital, but Perio-Perio died along the way.
Samuddin said the driver was immediately arrested by the police and is facing criminal charges.
Just in April, at least 6 people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a Rural Transit bus also overturned and crashed on a highway Aurora town in Zamboanga del Sur.
The bus, driven by Biato Dumpa, was travelling to Cagayan de Oro City from Pagadian, when it overturned on a curve and landed on a banana plantation. Earlier in February this year, a chartered Rural Transit bus overturned following a near collision with another vehicle injuring at least 20 passengers on a highway in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Siay town.
The bus, which came from the regional school sports competition in Marawi City, was carrying mostly teachers from Basilan province and heading to Zamboanga City when the mishap occurred on the village of Monching.
The bus firm is one of the biggest in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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