Bus mishap survivors recall ordeal

Two call center workers were on their way from Bulacan to Metro Manila for their graveyard shift on a rainy Friday night when the bus slipped and fell on its side.

Jully Ann Jose had just closed her eyes to rest from looking at her cell phone when the Buenasher Transport bus swerved after trying to avoid the vehicle in front and toppled on its right side along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).

Next she knew, Jose was already pinned by her seatmates in the bus. She said the woman on top of her was dead.

She waved her hands for help until a passerby pulled her through a small opening between the bus and the road.

Radhel Lucas, who was at the rear of the bus, said he woke up already feeling the pavement of NLEX on his right arm after he and the other passengers all fell from their seats to the window side.

“I looked at myself first. I checked my head if it was still whole. I saw blood dripping from above, where the other bodies were stuck,” said Lucas, who avoided stepping on the bodies before getting out of the wreckage through the windshield.

The impact was such that four persons who were thrown out of the bus were instantly killed. One of them was a woman who ended up on top of a concrete barrier.

The driver of the bus, which was speeding even though the road was slippery, may have not seen the vehicle in front slowing down due to poor visibility, case investigator Chief M/Sgt. Chandru Nambio said.

Maria Cecilia Legaspi, whose brother Zeus Lapig was among those pinned under the bus, said the bus company should be held liable for not training their drivers well.

“The driver is reckless. The company should have oriented their drivers. Lives are at stake here,” Legaspi said, crying.

After the accident, Lucas and Jose accompanied two boys who survived the crash. Their mother was among those who died.

“Inside the jeepney, they were asking if their mother will catch up. They were crying. I just assured them that she will. We were hoping she was still alive,” Jose said.

“A survivor called out to me from behind about a body,” Lucas added. “It was the boys’ mother. She was dead.”

The bus driver, Victorio delos Reyes, will face charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and physical injuries.

He is under hospital arrest as he recovers from his head injuries, police said.