The Ceres bus, with its crumpled right side showing the point of impact, is pulled upright to avoid blocking the road.
A mother and her 5-year-old daughter in the front seat of a bus were killed while more than 30 passengers were injured when a Ceres bus they were riding crashed in Badian town, southwest Cebu.
The bus driver, who survived, was the husband of the slain woman.
Police said he was drunk when the accident occurred past 7 a.m. when the bus sped went downhill and negotiated a blind curve.
Marlyn Gerson, 41 and her daughter Geralyn, were sitting in the front beside the driver, Erwin Gerson, 42. The bus was bound for Cebu city. The family was traveling home to Subangdaku, Mandaue City. The little girl was a kindergarten student and the couple’s only child.
“The driver was drunk. He tested positive for liquor use at the Badian District Hospital”, said investigator P02 Bismarck Babiera of the Badian police.
The Ceres bus with plate number 722 CEH and body number 8340 left Bato, Santander town in the farthest southern tip of Cebu province and was heading for Cebu City.
The mishap happened along the national highway in sitio Bangko-bangko, barangay Balhaan of Badian down at about 7:20 a.m. The site is the boundary of Badian and Alegria towns.
The driver, Erwin, admitted drinking beer the night before the accident at the Ceres bus terminal in Bato, Santander but denied he was intoxicated, said PO2 Babiera.
The driver said he was traveling at 60 kilometers per hour. When he reached a sharp curve downhill, the bus started to tilt and he applied the brakes.
The bus hit a steel post before falling on its right side, said the police investigator.
The mother suffered severe head injuries. The little girl’s head separated from her body.
Injured passengers were taken to different public hospitals in Badian, Alegria and Cebu City. The bus was almost full capacity with 39 seated passengers and three people standing along the aisle.
The modified Ceres bus has one door and is smaller than the oldert two-door Ceres bus model.
At least 20 injured passengers were accounted for in Alegria and Badian district hospitals but Babiera said, the number is expected to rise because other patients were taken to hospitals in other towns and Cebu City.
At least seven patients were treated in VSMMC in Cebu City.
Most of the passengers were students in the Cebu Technological University in Moalboal town, police said.
The driver, Erwin, was still drunk and in shock when he was arrested near the accident site.
He was sitting by the roadside. He wasn’t aware that his wife and child were killed, Babiera said.
At the police station, where he was told about his family, Erwin broke down and cried. He hid at the back of the holding cell, refusing to answer queries of reporters.
Police said they were looking into a report that the spouses had a quarrel inside the bus. SPO2 Randy Balansag, investigator, said they would also look into the possibility of a mechanical failure.
The national road was impassable for more than two hours before the bus, which blocked the lane, was removed.