6 hurt in Pit-os bus accident

The East Visayan Academy bus lies on its side after the accident along a steep stretch in Barangay Pit-os while bus driver Eduardo Cagas stands nearby.
( CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)

BARANGAY Pit-os officials are encouraged to put a road hump and warning signs along a steep road with a sharp curve in the barangay after a bus carrying retirees figured in an accident in the area yesterday.

Nagiel Bañacia, head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO), advised the barangay officials of Pit-os, a mountain barangay in northern Cebu City, after he noted that this was not the first accident that happened in the area.

Six out of 24 retirees suffered cuts and bruises and hypertension after the East Visayan Academy bus that they were riding fell on its side after its engine died while traversing the steep road.

Bañacia said all the victims were brought to hospitals for treatment.

The retirees were from the Seventh Day Adventist Church and were on their way to a meeting at Genesis Valley in Barangay Cabangahan, Consolacion town, northern Cebu.

Eduardo Cagas, bus driver, said the accident happened at 9:30 a.m.

“Napawong lang gyud ang makina unya wala na katangas. Niatras man unya pag-atras ana, ako na lang giigo atong pang-pang para nga di ko kaabot sa ubos (The engine died midway through the hill and the bus rolled backward. I have to crash it to the side of a cliff so that it would not reach the foot of the hill),” said Cagas.

Bañacia said previous accidents in the area involved dump trucks and garbage trucks on their way to the Consolacion garbage dump site.
Pit-os Barangay Councilor Jan Michael Velasquez said he recalled at least eight accidents that had happened in the area.

Velasquez also said that they would consider the suggestions of Bañacia to prevent similar accidents in the area.