Seventeen people died and 11 were injured when a passenger bus careered off a road on a “killer curve” and plunged down a mountain in the central Philippines, officials said yesterday.
The bus was traveling in Hamtic municipality in Antique province when the crash happened on Tuesday afternoon, Antique Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Roderick Train said.
Seven people were in critical condition in a hospital and four others were stable, Train said, describing the section of road as “accident prone.”
Photo: Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office - Urban Search and Rescue Unit via AP
One Kenyan national was among those killed, and a second Kenyan was among those critically injured.
The bus, which came from the nearby Iloilo province, was maneuvering through the accident-prone mountain road when the driver, who was among those killed, lost control.
The bus smashed onto a concrete railing then fell into a 30m-deep ravine, officials said.
“Based on the witnesses, it was a mechanical failure. The driver lost control, possible brake failure,” Train said.
“The driver was repeatedly sounding his horn because he had apparently lost control of the bus before it plummeted into the ravine,” said Ronniel Pabustan, an Antique provincial crisis responder, citing accounts by some of the passengers.
Dozens of rescuers, including police, army troops and provincial emergency responders, worked to extricate the victims from the wreckage, in an operation that dragged late into the night, Pabustan said.
“It’s so tragic and painful because this happened close to Christmas,” Pabustan said, adding that among the dead was a baby, who remained unidentified.
Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao earlier told radio station DZRH that four Kenyans were on board the bus that was carrying mostly local residents. Police later clarified there were only two. Another body was still being identified.
“I call that place ‘killer curve’... it was already the second Ceres bus that fell off there,” Cadiao said, referring to the bus company. “With the many number of deaths that road must be abandoned ... and make another road to make that area safe.”
Train said the search-and-rescue operation had finished and authorities would focus on retrieving the bus.
Additional reporting by AP
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