Mindanaotoday.com | Five killed in bus, truck smash-up in MisOr town
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Five persons died while nine others were injured when a passenger bus and a wing-van truck crashed head-on early Thursday (March 30) morning in Gitagum, Misamis Oriental.
Maj. Dennis Cerilla, Gitagum Municipal Police Station chief, named two of the fatalities as Robel Pagasian, 38, of Iligan City and driver of a Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. bus, and Silvino Flores Jr., 39, of Aurora, Zambonga del Sur.
Another fatality was 61-year-old Thelma Galeon of Bayog town, Zamboanga del Sur while two bodies have yet to be identified by relatives.
Cerilla, in an interview with Bombo Radyo Cagayan de Oro, said a dashcam recording showed that about 3:20 a.m. the speeding truck “encroached” the lane of RTMI bus from opposite direction, thus the head-on collision.
The wing-van truck, fully loaded with fish, left Zamboanga City about 1 p.m. of Wednesday and was supposed to arrive at the fish-landing area in Bulua Westbound Terminal, Cagayan de Oro before 5 a.m. the next day.
Nine of the bus passengers and two truck helpers sustained injuries and were brought to the provincial hospitals in nearby Naawan and Alubijid towns.
Another passenger, a resident of Gitagum, who went onboard the bus, ACA 8133, minutes before the accident happened, was brought to a private hospital in Cagayan de Oro.
The RTMI management has assured assistance to the families of the bus driver and all its passengers. (Uriel Quilinguing with reports from Bombo Radyo and Radio Mindanao Network Cagayan de Oro)
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