17 hurt in van-bus collision

COTABATO CITY – Seventeen people were injured, 11 of them seriously, when a passenger van collided head-on with a speeding bus in Matalam, North Cotabato yesterday.

Traffic investigators said the van’s driver, Joharto Maud, 29, overtook a cargo truck, but failed to avoid an approaching Rural Transit bus from the opposite direction of the highway.

Maud and the 14 passengers of his van were badly injured in the collision and were rushed to different hospitals in North Cotabato.

Doctors gave Maud a 50-50 chance to survive.

The driver of the bus and a passenger seated next to him suffered abrasions. – John Unson