Death ride: Screams of horror, failing bus brakes

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines  – Passengers were screaming in horror as the bus driver repeatedly hit the brakes, shouting they weren’t working, before the vehicle plunged into the ravine – one of the country’s deadliest recent crashes, according to officials.

The number of fatalities in the Leomarick Trans bus accident Tuesday in Nueva Ecija rose to 34 with more than 40 injured as their families cried for justice.

Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra, the provincial police chief, said in a dzMM interview yesterday that based on accounts, 30 of the injured victims were taken to Veterans Regional Hospital (VRH) and 16 to Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital (NVPH).

He said those injured were retrieved by rescuers who struggled with ropes to descend the ravine to reach the wreckage.

Yarra said at least 77 people were in the vehicle, based on the number of dead and injured, but rescuers returned to the crash site Wednesday morning to look in the grassy area for other possible victims.

Yarra said families and relatives of the fatalities arrived one after the other yesterday to claim the bodies of their loved ones. But some of the victims had no identification documents while others had serious head and face injuries.

A survivor who jumped out the door before the bus plunged said “the driver was shouting, saying the brakes were not working and he has lost control of the bus,” Yarra said in a telephone interview.

It was not clear if Yarra was referring to Ian Boy Fernandez, 31, of Sto. Domingo, Bambang. Fernandez earlier said the overloaded bus was trying to overtake another bus when its engine stopped. 

As a result, the survivor said the driver lost control of the vehicle on a sloping portion of the road while trying to restart the engine.

Many of the passengers were hospitalized with serious injuries and parents were separated from their children in the confusion, officials said.

“One child here sat beside her mother. The mother was dead,” said Dr. Napoleon Obana of the VRH.

A victim of the bus accident in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija is treated at a hospital. MICHAEL VARCAS

TV footage showed a line of rescuers and villagers, some holding on to a rope to climb up on a grassy slope with a victim on a stretcher. A throng of villagers waited in a clearing above them to help pull the victim to safety.

Passenger Ralph Raymond Grajo said he saw the driver repeatedly stepping on the malfunctioning brakes as the wayward bus was speeding along a downhill road. The driver attempted to steer the bus to the right, but roadside houses made him veer back in the direction of the ravine as horrified passengers watched, Grajo said.

“All the passengers were screaming and somebody in front of me told everybody ‘Don’t panic,’ but many were already gripped by panic,” Grajo told dzMM.

Grajo apparently fell out of the bus as it rolled down the ravine and regained consciousness away from the wreckage with injuries to his feet and arms. He said he was among the first to be rescued and brought to hospital.

Yarra confirmed the driver was among the dead, and that four survivors were in critical condition.

The impact from the plunge ripped the bus, which could no longer be distinguished at the bottom of the ravine, Yarra said, adding investigators could not yet talk to the stunned and injured survivors.

Carranglan police chief Robert de Guzman said the bus from northern Isabela province was on its way to Ilocos Sur when it crashed.

Poorly maintained passenger buses, inadequate road safety features and weak enforcement of local transport laws have been blamed for many vehicular accidents in the Philippines.

In February, a sightseeing bus carrying college students on a camping trip lost its brakes on a steep downhill road and smashed into a concrete electrical post in Tanay town in Rizal province east of Manila, killing 15 people.

Where to seek help?

“Saan na kami hihingi ng tulong ngayon (Where do we seek help now)?” some of the victims told The STAR inside the trauma center of the VRH in Bayombong.

The victims said nobody from the bus company had showed up so far to assist them and that they were worried about hospital bills and other expenses they would incur because of the accident.

“Paano namin sisingilin ang may ari (How do we get compensation from the owner)?” asked some of the angry relatives of the passengers.

The Leomarick bus with license plate AVZ-757 fell into a 100-foot ravine in Capintalan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija on Tuesday, killing 34 people, including the bus driver and conductor, police said.

Police identified the driver as Rolando Jacla Mangaoang, 40, of Alicia, Isabela while the conductor was Cesar Perang, a resident of Antutot, Kasibu here.

Some of the fatalities were identified as Guilbert Mariano; Judy Bacudo; Jovita Retorban, 56; Catherine Manglapuz, 30; Alfredo Lucero; Roberto Mandawin, 66; Luisa Pahinag; Rosalyn Bondoc, 40; Cherry Mae Salem, 21; Judy Marquez, 50; Ivy Ann de la Cruz; Angelica Gamboa, 19; Jayvee Militar and Jailyn Adrada, both one year old; Gladys Pacada, 39 and Willy Elegores, 40.

As of 1 p.m. yesterday, the other passengers who died instantly were not yet identified and were still unclaimed by their families. A headless woman and a child were among those recovered.

Based on reports, 14 of the casualties were taken to the NVPH in Bambang town. Two died in Indigenous Hospital in Aritao town; four in Rural Health Unit also in Aritao; two in VRH; one in Dupax del Norte District Hospital; 11 in Rural Health Unit in Sta. Fe town and one in a hospital in San Jose, Nueva Ecija.

Ten of those injured were also taken to the NVPH, 29 to VRH and two to the hospital in San Jose.

Dr. Arlene Hara, NVPH head, said most of the victims suffered severe fractures due to strong impact when the bus plunged into the ravine at around 11:30 a.m. Hara said the injured victims remained at the NVPH while those in critical condition were transferred to VRH.

Dr. Rowena Constantino of the VRH said a total of seven injured children, including a six-month-old baby, were admitted at the hospital’s pediatrics section, contrary to a STAR report yesterday that they were among those who died.

Paging the bus operator

Yarra said they were trying to locate the operator of Leomarick Trans, which is registered to Juan Leonardo Patulot and Ricky Patulot as operator, with office address in Agoo, La Union.

Yarra said police investigators from the LTFRB and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) returned to the accident site to lift evidence to help in the investigation.?Yarra said the survivors and witnesses have different accounts of the incident, as some claimed the right front tire burst and caused the bus to malfunction. He said the concrete barrier did not help save the passengers as the bus rammed into it.?Carranglan Mayor Mary Abad said the area is accident-prone and the incident on Tuesday was the fifth in recent years. Another official told AP it was the sixth.?Initial investigation of the LTFRB showed there were violations on the part of the operator.

Aileen Lizada, LTFRB spokesperson and board member, said there was no alternate driver for the long trip, in direct violation of the recently issued memorandum circular of the board. Yarra said the trip was 15 hours long. 

Lizada said there was only a conductor for the bus, violating Memorandum Circular No. 2017-02 issued before Holy Week by the LTFRB.

Public utility bus (PUB) drivers are limited to driving six hours straight under the memo to avoid road accidents.

Abad has also ordered an autopsy on the driver to determine if he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident, according to Lizada.

The LTFRB has set a hearing on the accident on May 2 following its issuance of a 30-day suspension order on Leomarick Trans, which had an authorized route of Bangued, Abra to Ilagan, Isabela. 

Lizada added they are conducting an investigation to determine the actual age of the vehicle, which was registered in the Land Transportation Office (LTO) database as a 2006 model.

Meanwhile, Lizada said they are in the process of arranging passenger insurance for the deceased and injured victims of the accident. 

The Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency (PAMI) will release in full the P200,000 in insurance for the families of deceased victims, the LTFRB official said. 

Exasperating, frustrating

Rolling coffins must be out of the roads, lawmakers said yesterday.

Senators expressed their sympathies to the families of victims of the tragic bus accident and renewed their call for concerned agencies to quickly implement measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, urged concerned government agencies as well as the operator of the ill-fated bus to immediately extend assistance to the victims and their families.

“Let compassion prevail in this tragedy,” Poe said in a statement. “We also need to have a thorough investigation to hold accountable those responsible for this so that the victims will attain justice.”

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, vice chairman of the panel, said transportation agencies could greatly help in reducing fatal accidents if they would seriously implement laws and their own regulations.

Ejercito cited as an example the LTFRB, which has yet to issue the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Speed Limiter Act.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III earlier said the ones most accountable are the people issuing certificates of roadworthiness to “these rolling caskets.”

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) assured the public of continuous inspections of bus companies nationwide. “If found to have violated regulations and ordered to close down, DOLE will be providing the necessary assistance to the affected workers,” Bello said in an interview. 

Bus companies are required to secure Labor Laws Compliance Certificate prior to getting the mandatory permit from the LTFRB.

Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas also renewed his call for the LTFRB to ensure the roadworthiness of public utility vehicles following the latest bus tragedy. – Victor Martin, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Romina Cabrera, Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Mayen Jaymalin, Emmanuel Tupas, AP