CEBU, Philippines - Ten people were injured after a boom truck and a passenger bus collided at 10:50 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Pitalo, San Fernando.
Charles Ricaña, the driver of the boom truck, was brought to a hospital after he was pinned behind the steering wheel. Ricaña’s feet was severely injured and could not move when he was rescued.
The passengers of the boom truck, Henry Manugas; Jeffrey Baya; Mador Lubiano and Lionel Torema, were also brought to the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Carcar City after they sustained injuries on their bodies while the five passengers of the passenger bus was also rushed to the South General Hospital.
Norma Sampuang; Rex Anthony Sampuang, 8; Nicole Sampuang, 11; Endrico Sampuang, 14 and Manuel Padla, sustained injuries on the different parts of their bodies.
Chief Inspector Sara Jean Recla, San Fernando Police Station chief, said that the boom truck was headed to Aloguinsan and was tailing a multicab.
When they reached Pitalo, San Fernando, the multicab stopped and the boom truck tried to avoid the collision so it encroached to the opposite lane.
The driver of the bus saw the boom truck coming and slowed down but the crane of the truck hit the windshield on the driver’s side of the bus.
In an interview with The Freeman, Sunrays bus dri-ver Germolito Pelago said that he was driving at a slow pace, contrary to the boom truck driver.
Pelago said that minutes before the collision, he saw the boom truck behind a small public utility jeepney with a number of passengers on board. He narrated that when the multicab had to stop to drop off a passenger, he saw the truck overtake and cross towards the opposite lane.
Pelago said that he had to avoid the approaching vehicle and almost fell on the banana grove nearby.
The bus was carrying 20 passengers after it left Oslob at 7:30 in the morning and was bound for Cebu City.
Another truck of PLD Construction was tailing the truck that collided with the passenger bus. They were off to Aloguinsan to repair a bridge.
Forty-five-year-old Alejandro Ayco, who was driving the second truck, admitted that his colleague driving the first truck was running at an estimate of 55 kilometers per hour but then it was the driver of the passenger bus that was driving faster.
“Plano nako overtake-an nako siya para hinay-hinay ra mi. Di na man maapsan kay pabulhot na man siya og padagan. Ang mga tawong maagian kay nanampong na sa nawong kay pwerteng asoha. Pero sakto ra ang iyang dagan. Ang bus ang paspas. Nadaro gud among truck,” he narrated.
However, Ayco confessed that they could not blame the Sunrays bus since they were the ones who did not follow the traffic rules. “Murag di mahimong sad-an ang Sunrays kay naa man ta sa ilang lane. Sala gyud namo,” he said. — (FREEMAN)