14 killed, 31 injured in Cagayan bus collision

ISABELA CITY — A passenger bus collided with another bus and a van before plunging into a ravine in an accident that killed at least 14 people and injured 31, officials said yesterday.

Five passengers, one of the bus drivers and a helper died instantly in the late Sunday afternoon accident along a winding mountain road in Gattaran town in Cagayan province, police said. The others died in or on the way to hospitals, police said.

Army troops, police and villagers struggled for about 10 hours until early Monday to pull out the dead and injured from the wreckage of the bus and the van at the ravine’s muddy bottom, police said.

An initial police report said one of the buses was trying to overtake two vans, bringing it directly to the path of another bus in the opposite direction. The driver of the first bus panicked and hit the van he was trying to overtake as well as the incoming bus, police said.

The impact sent his bus and the van hurtling into a ravine.

Superintendent Rodrigo de Gracia, provincial police director, said the accident took place about 5 pm Sunday in Barangay Nasipping, Gattaran when a speeding Manila-bound Florida Liner, with license plates BVA-796, collided head on with the Apayao-bound Cabulisan Bus Line with license plates BVK-972.

The collision, De Gracia said quoting an initial police report, also involved two other vehicles –a KIA Pregio van and an MB 100 Mercedes-Benz.

Police investigators identified the Florida bus driver as Henry Agassi, 31, a resident of Ballesteros, Cagayan. The driver of the Cabulisan bus has yet to be identified as of press time.

Among the other dead were Eric Orteza, a resident of Barangay Cullit, Gattaran; Rowel Tabangcura, 19, of Barangay San Vicente, Gattaran; Luciano Famurca, from Laoag City; and five females and two males whom police have yet to identify.

The injured passengers were listed as Sidney Mark Rivera, Domingo Borgio, Emelita Paddua, Marlon Andalig, Guindo Passion, Visitacion Cabanilla, Julmer Laddaron, Leomar Ibus, Geraldson Trinidad, Bernard Sadama Jr., Divine Reyes, Maricel Tarubal, Sherilyn Natividad, Raquel Garcia, Michelle Lorenzo, Jane Sacobe, Angelica Marron, Minirose Caranguian;

Cita Valuala, Jovy Ermitanio, Florentino Barcarse, Rolando Ablog, Wilfredo Orlino, Katrina Romero, Zenda Gail Reyes, Talia Medina, Celia, Precilia and Marvin Morgado.

Accidents in rural areas of the Philippines are frequent because buses are old and poorly maintained, and dangerously narrow roads often lack safety signs or guardrails. — AP, Charlie Lagasca, Jaime Laude