Tarlac City – – Over fatigue causes accident.
This must be the lesson learned too late by a driver of a van which crashed to a Santrans bus which resulted in the death of 6 persons and injuring 16 others along the Mac Arthur Highway, Barangay Aguso, around 4:30 AM last Monday (July 24).
The passengers of the Toyota Hi Ace van (ABT-6298) are relatives and came from Legaspi City in Bicol where they attended a kin’s burial. They were on their way home to Tubao, La Union and must have been more than 12 hours on the road.
The van collided head on to a Santrans bus (CWV-4181) bound to Metro Manila and was completely deformed.
Due to the impact, the bus crashed to a house along the highway damaging 2 vehicles parked inside but, luckily, none among the residents were injured.
In his report, PInsp Wilhelmino Alcantara identified the 6 fatalities in the early morning vehicular accident as Jemor Bueno y Molina, driver of the Toyota Hi Ace Van, and his passengers Teresita Basadre, Silvestre Basadre, Lolita Marzan, and Andrea Duran who were all killed on the spot.
The sixth fatality, Gerald Rei Basadre, died while being treated at the Tarlac Provincial Hospital.
The injured passengers of the van were Severino Fortez y Dela Cruz, 59; Maximo Dolen y Espinoza, 68; Dolores Mapanao y Cortez, 63; Rolando Duran y Estoque, 58; Ofelia Lopido y Veloria, 52; Pricilla Sales y Marzan, 69; Benito Sales y Marzan, 63; Edmar Laron y Cortez, 8; all residents of Barangay Leones, Tubao, La Union, said Alcantara.
The injured bus passengers were Joey Lastimay y Oballes, 21, of Umingan, Pangasinan; Boyet Alicunan y Soriano, 37, of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan; Jopet Kilat y Jainar, 18, of Cabayaosan, Paniqui, Tarlac; Mary Ann De Guzman y Quarda, 31, of San Quintin, Pangasinan; Juanita Mamaril y Aguinaldo, 56, of Pangasinan; and Rachel Joy De Vera, 20, of Villa Paz, Gerona, Tarlac.
Santrans bus driver PEPITO DELA LUNA y Paguia, 55, of Caingin, San Rafael, Bulacan, was also injured.
According to Alcantara, the van was north bound while the bus was going south to Cubao, Quezon City, carrying 25 passengers.
“This is the worst vehicular accident in our area this year. Malamang sobrang pagod na ang driver ng van sa layo ng pinanggalingan nila,” said Alcantara, who is the Commander of the Police Community Precinct (PCP) 1 of this city’s police station. /Nelson Bolos