Seventeen persons, including two foreigners, died and 11 were injured when a Ceres bus fell off a “killer curve” into a deep ravine at the boundary of barangays Igbucagay and Fabrica in Hamtic, Antique, at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 5.
Antique Gov. Rhodora J. Cadiao, who initially placed the death toll at 28, said on Wednesday that the bloated figures were caused by confusion Tuesday night with lack of communication from the accident site that had no cellular phone signal.
“It was a tragic disaster,” she said.
The bus fell 60 feet into the ravine and 16 bodies were retrieved at the site, some pinned below the bus, while another passenger died at a hospital, Broderick Train, Antique Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office head, said.
He withheld the names of the fatalities pending an official police report.
The 16 casualties, including the bus driver, inspector and conductor have been identified. He said they are still trying to establish the identity of a 25 to 30 year old male.
The foreigners who died were males from India and Kenya, Train said.
Another Kenyan tourist was in critical condition on Wednesday, he added.
The majority of the dead were Antiqueños, Cadiao added.
The bus that was travelling from Iloilo to Antique had 28 passengers and among the survivors seven were in critical condition, while four were stable, she said.
The last body to be retrieved from the accident site at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday was that of Jose Glenn Jayvon Fandagani, the Ceres bus inspector, who saved the life of a teacher.
Mica Marie Servano, a teacher from Lindero Elementary School in Tobias Fornier, said the inspector shielded her with his body as the bus fell saving her life.
Posts on social media have been circulating thanking Fandagani for saving the life of the teacher.
Cadiao said the area where the bus feel is a “killer curve” as numerous deadly accidents have occurred in the same spot.
Many vehicles have fallen there, which she has reported to the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Regional Development Council, Cadiao said.
The DPWH widened the road and put a cement barrier but it has not prevented the accidents from happening, Cadiao said.
“I would like to believe that that road has a design fault, the DPWH should study very hard why vehicles are prone to accidents in that area alone,” she said.
LTFRB SUSPENSION
Regional Director Richard Osmeña of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in Western Visayas preventively suspended 13 Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) buses plying the Iloilo City – Caticlan route for 30 days on Wednesday following the Antique accident that left 17 dead.
VTI was ordered to show cause in writing within 72 hours why their Certificate of Public Conveyance should not be suspended or cancelled. A hearing of the case has been set on Dec. 13, he said.
VTI, in a statement late Tuesday, said it had reported the accident to LTFRB immediately, and is willing to cooperate with any investigations they will be conducting.
“In coordination with the LTFRB Region 6, the management has decided to voluntarily suspend all operations of the 12 remaining units under the franchise involving Case No. 11-VI-021-AK pending investigation, wherein the bus involved in the incident had been a part of,” it said.
VTI will be providing financial assistance to the passengers and their families, as well as shouldering the medical and burial expenses, VTI said.
VTI guarantees the riding public that it is taking all the appropriate steps to ensure that its buses are road-worthy and well-maintained, it said.*