ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 16 Oct) – Two people were killed while 17 others were wounded when a bus fell into a ravine late Wednesday in Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur.
Killed were bus driver Macario Omac and Baharan Maulod, Basilan provincial officer of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
SPO4 Eleazar Carcallas, Tigbao police chief for investigation, said the bus of the Rural Transit Mindanao, Inc. (RTMI) with plate number JVH 435 was bound for Pagadian City coming from this city when it fell into the ravine 10:35 p.m. Wednesday in Barangay Maragang of Tigbao town.
He said the driver apparently lost control of the steering wheel as it rammed a concrete house before falling into the ravine. None among the house occupants were harmed, Carcallas said.
Wounded were Rolando Simbahon, 30, the bus conductor; Rosally Curaza, 32; Robert Alvin Balahim, 26; Rodeza Flomarie Ferrer, 22; Rodolfo Alfaro Jr., 33; Gregorio Salazar, 26; Engr. George Jocutan, 38; retired Master Sergeant Alberto Soria, 64; Leokin Kalbi, 65; Saida Lapasaran, 35; Jose Tan, 25; Efraim Mecines, 25; Luis Dogoc, 51; Lizabel Caoile, 50; Leizyl Divinagracia, 28; Rey Bentoy, 41; and Yury Gagarin, 34.
Carcallas said they were rushed to the Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center in Pagadian City for treatment.
The incident took place several hours after another RTMI bus figured in an accident that killed a seven-year-old child and injured another in Pagadian City.
Senior Supt. Sofronio Ecaldre, Zamboanga del Sur police director, reported that the two children, both seven years old, were hit by the RTMI bus as they were coming out of the school around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Barangay Lumbia.
Ecaldre said the bus was travelling form Pagadian to Ozamiz City when the accident happened.