Bus crashes into 2 Negros houses; 3 dead, 10 hurt

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A woman and her six-year-old son and another minor were killed while 10 others were injured after a passenger bus crashed into two houses along the highway in E. B. Magalona, Negros Occidental on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Killed were Florida Pelagio, 38, and her son, Gaspar, 6, and Jillianne Lamis, 1, said Inspector Leonardo Cobing, E. B. Magalona deputy police chief.

Two of those injured, Geraldine Lamis, 27, and Wilma Sales, 12, had to be extracted from beneath the bus. They are now in critical condition, Cobing added.

Also injured were Pelagio’s children Geraldine, 14, and Gabriel, four months old; and Aspril Jereme, 13; Ma. Joanna Rose Mae Delfin, 16; Alexis Penuela, 19; and bus passengers Ian Asuyon, 17, and Merile Bagyo, 49.

Police said Jess Martinez, 44, driver of the Ceres Liner bus, allegedly tried to overtake another vehicle but hesitated because of an approaching truck on the opposite lane of a curved portion of the highway.

As Martinez returned to his lane, he hit the brakes to avoid hitting the vehicle in front, causing the bus to swerve to the right and hit the houses beside the highway where residents were playing bingo, police said.

Martinez voluntarily surrendered to the police after the mishap.

E. B. Magalona Mayor David Albert Lacson said the Vallacar Transit, which owns Ceres Liner, third district Rep. Alfredo Benitez, and the municipal government are assisting the victims.