(Eagle News) – At least 14 people, mostly students of Best Link College of the Philippines, were killed and dozens injured when a bus they were riding in lost its breaks and hit an electric post while on their way to a three-day teambuilding activity in Tanay, Rizal.
What should have been a fun educational experience for the college students, turned into a nightmare as Bus 8 of Panda Bus Coach Transit rammed into a Meralco post near Magnetic Hill, in front of Peligigrino Farm in Sitio Bayucan, Barangay Sampoloc in Tanay.The
The students, were reportedly required by the school to attend a three-day training camp as part of their National Service Training Program (NSTP). The activity was set at the Sacramento Adventure Camp in Tanay, Rizal.
The bus, rented by the private school located in Novaliches, Quezon City, was taking over 50 teenage students and an instructor on the trip when the driver lost control on a downhill slope in the town of Tanay, said regional police spokesman Superintendent Chitadel Gaoiran.
The impact with the concrete post was so strong that the post caved in on the front of the bus and scattered parts of the engine on the roadside.
Ten students were killed on the spot while four other people including the bus driver died in hospital, officials said.
The bus’s brakes appeared to have failed, said Boysie Mata, the police desk officer at Tanay in Rizal province east of Manila.
Forty-five others were injured, said Bong Bati, the civil defence officer at Tanay.
“There were some victims who are seriously injured that need to be transferred to a bigger hospital,” he added.
The bus driver was identified as Julian Lacorda, 37, who later died at the hospital.
According to the initial reports from the Tanay police station, the tourist bus with a plate number TXS 325, under Panda Coach Tourist and Transpo Inc. allegedly lost its brake while traveling along Barangay Sampaloc in Tanay, when the driver deliberately hit a roadside electrical post around 8:45 am Monday.
“They could have been running too fast that when they hit the post, the impact was too strong the roof of the bus almost got detached,” Carlos Inofre of the Tanay town government said.
Some of the school officials came to see what happened on the site of the accident. One of them said, “There were nine buses (all in all). The rest of the students were safe and were already at the resort.”
Jona Martires, a reservation officer from the Panda Coach Tourist and Transpo Inc. said the bus driver, Lacorda, who was driving Bus 8 had just been hired by the company three months ago.
Martires also explained that the bus was rented for a one-way trip only, “Ang transaksyon po ay ihahatid po ang mga bata doon sa patutunguhan nila, which is sa Sacramento Valley sa Tanay.”
The bus firm said that they would shoulder the hospital and funeral expenses of the victims of the bus accident.
One survivor in the bus crash, interviewed by GMA News, said that they had noticed the smell of burning tires while the bus was running, and later on the driver said the brakes were not functioning. The driver then deliberately rammed the bus on an electric concrete post, resulting in the tragic accident. (with a report from Jodi Bustos, Eagle News Service and Agence France Presse)