Friends had "premonition" on bus accident

CEBU, Philippines - They came here to study and later serve their country.

Such dream, however, was all but shattered when an excursion turned into a disaster that ended the lives of six medicine students from the Gullas College of Medicine. They were among the 19 Iranians who died when a bus fell into a ravine at the transcentral highway in Balamban town.

Mustafa Mahboobian, 26, a fourth year medical student at the Gullas College of Medicine (University of the Visayas), is a closed friend of some of the victims who died in the incident.

He was supposed to join them but because he could not leave his internship at a private hospital here, he let go of the opportunity. His decision was not to be regretted, after all.

“I believe that it was not my day, because I was supposed to be with them. But it was not my day that’s why God stopped me,” he said.

The night before the incident, he said he tried to discourage some of his friends from going. At dawn of Sunday, or hours before the accident, he had what he considered a premonition.

He dreamed of being inside the intensive care unit (ICU) attending to a lot of patients, some of them Iranians. Although he did not really see the faces of his friends in his dream, Mahboobian woke up crying.

He later found out that two of his friends had the same dream. But it was late to warn everyone.

He was one of those who attended to the survivors.

Dean Leonard Cimafranca of the Gullas College of Medicine said that some of their students were also invited to that outing but had to study for an exam.

“It was a blessing in disguise that we had an exam. At least some of them were spared,” Cimafranca said.

Until now, some of the victims’ parents are still unaware of what had happened to their children.

“Our students have requested to refrain from publishing the names because their parents do not know yet. Like one of our students here, his younger brother was in the incident. He told me not to answer the call from his father because he intends to inform them when the bodies are already transported to Iran,” Cimafranca revealed.

The medical students who died were no ordinary students. Most of them were achievers even back in their country. They excelled in Iran but for some reason, chose to transfer in Cebu.

Mahboobian said that most of the Iranians who chose to study here were taking courses related to medicine. This is true to 80 to 95 percent of the Iranian population in Cebu.

“Each of us came here for various reasons. But what we have in common, maybe, we chose the Philippines because this is an English country. Many of our friends who have been here, some even got married, told us that this is a nice place, that the quality of education is good. And the price, compared to Europe and America is cheaper, very much cheap,” he said.

Mahboobian wanted to blame the driver for what happened.

“It’s already past, we cannot blame anybody although there is one person who I can still blame but he died - the driver. He was not supposed to drive. But anyway I have already forgiven him,” he said.

If there’s one lesson he learned from the incident, he said, it’s the will of God.

“It’s your destiny. But as much as possible, minimize going out especially in far places. There are lots of places where you can go to where we can still enjoy.”

Iranians are fond of going out and this is not the first time they attempted to go out of town.

But the incident has now caused them fear and raised doubts on road safety especially in the mountain areas.

The UV staff could not believe they lost valuable students and friends.

“We have about 20 Iranian students here in the College of Medicine. They are just like any college students, they are respectful, and they are really hardworking because medicine is a difficult course. Though we differ sometimes in our cultural beliefs, we are very tolerant of each other. In fact we respect each other very well,” Cimafranca said in an interview with The FREEMAN.

Gullas College of Medicine is not new to foreign students. It has students of various nationalities such as Thai, Nepalese and Armainians who chose to complete their medical course here.

“We are like one big family here. They are really very nice people, it’s just a matter of understanding them. Knowing their needs, their fears, their goals in life,” Cimafranca said. — THE FREEMAN