“A MIRACLE,” was how the mother described what happened to Uzzie Kirby "Jehoo" Libre, the one-year-old child who survived unharmed a bus accident that killed 15 passengers in Don Andres Soriano, Toledo City last Saturday afternoon.
"Milagro kaayo ang nahitabo. Di gud ko katuo (It was a miracle. I cannot believe it)," Charlyn Tundag, 26, of Asturias, Cebu told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview yesterday.
The accident coincided with Jehoo's birthday, said Charlyn, who is one month pregnant.
Charlyn and her mother Fe were among the dozens of passengers who were hurt when the bus of VG&A hit a concrete fence after its brakes malfunctioned.
Toledo City Police Office Chief Jovito Canlapan said yesterday that relatives of six casualties went with traffic investigator PO3 Julius Sanchez to court to press charges against bus driver Wilfredo Requiso.
But while some families are mourning, others, like Charlyn, reunited with loved ones.
It was only last Sunday dawn when Charlyn knew her son was alive and was brought to the Toledo City Social Welfare and
Development office.
Social worker Mae Tacandong said, in a phone interview, that Jehoo was reunited with his mother at the Asturias Police Station last Sunday at 9 a.m.
The family had just celebrated Jehoo’s first birthday in Barangay Pardo, Cebu City when the accident happened.
At 4 p.m., they boarded the VG&A bus at the Cebu South Bus Terminal.
Charlyn said the bus was full so she had to stand near the door, while her mother occupied an extension seat on top of the bus's engine.
Jehoo slept on Fe's lap.
When the bus crashed into a concrete fence at 5:45 p.m., Charlyn said the three of them were thrown out of the bus.
She saw her mother bloodied and her son lying on his grandmother’s belly as they landed in front of the house owned by the Yaquit family.
"Nikamang ko padung ni Jehoo ug unya ako siyang gialsa-alsa, abi nako’g na unsa na... sige kog siyagit (I crawled toward my son and I carried him because I thought something bad happened to him... I kept screaming for help)," she said.
A man carried Jehoo to an ambulance after hearing Charlyn shouting for help.
Charlyn, who suffered minor wounds in the left side of her head and in her left arm, was brought to Balamban District Hospital but was later discharged. Her mother is still in serious condition inside the Intensive Care Unit of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Charlyn was with her husband and Jehoo in VSMMC yesterday. She underwent ultrasound and visited her mother.
Jehoo was also subjected an X-ray examination. He had no signs of fracture.