SABLAN, Benguet – The number of injured individuals as a result of the ill-fated passenger bus that lost its brakes and fell on its left side along Naguilian Road, particularly at barangay Banangan here increased to fifteen from the nine individuals earlier reported.
Senior Inspector Azalea Rabena, chief of the Sablan municipal police station, said four of the eight injured passengers who were rushed to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) were already discharged while one of the them was transferred to the St. Louis University (SLU) Sacreed Heart Hospital.
The updated list of injured passengers as per the Sablan Municipal Police Station are Aileem Vidad, 15, La Union, Magda Baraquio, 21, Ilocos Norte and Carolina Decia, 49, Baguio City while the following names were confined at Baguio General Hospital ; Phoebe Soriano, 45, La Union, Pimentel Rowena, 40, La Union, Jeanlyn Rillera, 33, La Union and Judith Chua, 56, La Union, was transferred to Saint Louis Hospital. And the following six passengers chose to go home: Joyce Corpuz, 24, La Union, Jamaica Jean Valmonte, 10, La Union, Evelyn Vidad, 41, La Union, Delia Carolino, 49, Baguio City, Marites Fagayan, 56, Sablan, Benguet and Robert Dullay, 35, La Union; Jhastina Mendoza, 27 from Burgos, La Union and Judy Torkuwato Chua 56, married, housewife a resident of Naguilian La Union.
Rabena said the Abra-bound was loaded with 41 passengers but 24 of them decided not to seek medical treatment because they did not sustain injuries as a result of the said vehicular accident.
Tommy Quesada Hipol, 40, single and a bus washer who hails from Caoayan, Burgos, La Union died after he banged his head and body on the riprap wall and concrete pavement when he jumped off the bus when the driver informed the passengers that it lost its brakes while travelling along the roadline.
Elizabeth Hipol, sister of the deceased passenger, already filed a case of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide against the bus driver who was named as Petronilo Duarte Florague III, 35, single and a driver by profession.
Rabena appealed to motorists to take the necessary precautions when travelling along the different roadlines to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents that would pose a serious threat to life and limb.
By Dexter A. See