BAGUIO — A passenger bus collided with a jeepney carrying pilgrims to Christmas Mass at a church in Agoo town, La Union province on Monday, December 25, leaving 20 people dead and more than two dozen injured, police said.
Police Chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula said all those killed in the pre-dawn collision were in the jeepney. Another 10 jeepney passengers, along with the driver and 17 other occupants of the bus, were injured.
The jeepney's engine was ripped off due to the impact of the crash.
The jeepney passengers were bound for Our Lady of Manaoag, a Roman Catholic Church in northern Pangasinan province that has long been popular among pilgrims and Catholics praying for the sick and impoverished, police said.
Rickety passenger buses and jeepneys, lack of safety signs, poor law enforcements and reckless driving have been blamed for many road tragedies in the country. (AP)