Rushing to catch ro-ro,
Ceres bus falls: 27 hurt

Scores of passengers were injured after a Ceres bus fell off the bridge in Poblacion Proper Jamindan, Capiz last Sunday.

Police reports said the Ceres bus with body number 11018 came from Iloilo City and was on its way to Metro Manila when the incident happened.

The bus has a total of 27 passengers including the driver and the conductor.

Police investigation said the bus driver was unaware of the treacherous curve before the approach of the bridge causing the vehicle to plunge. 

Local residents led by Poblacion Proper village chieftain Benjie Barrientos immediately responded and pulled the injured passengers out of the ill-fated Ceres bus and rushed them to the nearby district hospital in Mambusao, Capiz.

A total of 15 passengers were seriously injured and presently confined at the intensive care unit of the said hospital.

Meanwhile, the Jamindan PNP is presently investigating the accident.

In a Bombo Radyo report, a passenger named Thelma Salvador, 54 of Calinog, Iloilo said the driver, Eusebio Vipinosa Jr. seemed in a hurry because he wanted to make it to the Roll-on Roll-off (Roro) trip from Caticlan, Malay, Aklan.

Salvador said the driver and conductor may have been tired because as soon as they arrived from Manila, they immediately drove back because the passengers were already 10 hours late.*PNA/bomboradyo.com