TWENTY passengers were injured when a Ceres bus tipped over a cliff after its driver reportedly lost control of the steering wheel in Barangay Panalipan in the northern town of Catmon on Sunday morning, Dec. 8, 2019.
Before the passenger bus crashed, it had departed Tabogon town carrying around 25 passengers. It was on its way to the Cebu North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City when it figured in the road incident.
P/Corp. Virgil Ortiz, traffic investigator, said the police station received a phone call about the road incident at 7:55 a.m.
When Ortiz and his fellow police officers arrived in the area, they found the bus below the cliff and saw several passengers crying for help.
The bus driver was identified as Iglecerio Cano-is Landero Jr., who is 36 and a resident of Barangay Ipil, Carmen.
During the investigation, Landero told the police that he noticed the steering wheel was not working while driving along the national highway in Panalipan.
He stepped on the brake, but he could no longer control the vehicle. The bus hit a concrete barrier and fell into a cliff, hitting a coconut tree and two wooden boats along the way.
The 20 passengers who suffered minor injuries were brought to a hospital in nearby Sogod town.
A 78-year-old passenger was rushed to the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Danao City. He was later transferred to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City. Four others were brought to other hospitals.
Landero denied he fell asleep while driving, but he admitted that it was his first time to drive a bus. He was detained at the Catmon Police Station pending the filing of charges against him. (JCT)