3 dead, 15 injured in mishap on NLEx

Three people were killed while 15 others were injured when a passenger bus rear-ended a 16-wheel truck before it slammed into a wall on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) on Thursday morning.

Traffic investigator PO3 Hannibal Fariñas identified the fatalities as William Calma, 54; the driver of a Genesis Transport bus; Jonalito Junio, 24, the bus conductor; and Aguilar Bunsa, 49, one of the passengers.

The accident happened at 4:45 a.m. on the southbound lane of the expressway near the Torres Bugallon overpass in Gen. T. de Leon, Valenzuela City.

According to Fariñas, the bus which was traveling at a fast clip bumped into the back of the truck which was carrying sand.

The bus then spun out of control before it hit the fence by the roadside, some 50 meters away from the site of the impact, he added.

Elmer Gomez, the driver of the Serendipity Works truck owned by Alexander Salcedo, said they were on their way to Parañaque City from Pampanga province.

The Cubao, Quezon City-bound passenger bus, on the other hand, had come from Bataan province.

Fariñas said they were still trying to determine if the bus’ brakes had failed although he added that it was possible that Calma did not immediately see the truck in front of his vehicle because of the steep elevation in that portion of the expressway.

Gomez told investigators that just before the accident, he was running at only 60 kilometers per hour. He told the Inquirer that after the passenger bus hit the back of his truck, it pushed the vehicle forward and he nearly hit the 14-wheel truck in front of him.

Fortunately, he managed to swerve to the right to avoid a collision, he added.

Gomez and his two truck helpers were unhurt although they complained of neck pains.

Both the driver and conductor of the Genesis bus, however, died on the spot after they were thrown out of and under the vehicle due to the impact.

The lone passenger who died, on the other hand, passed away after he suffered a concussion, Senior Insp. Erwin de Guzman, chief of Valenzuela City’s Traffic Enforcement Unit, told the Inquirer.

Police identified the injured as Jessielyn Empeno, 40; Rosa Jane Dacula, 26; Jeaminie Gomez, 23; Emmanuel Sunglao, 34; Walter Nacional, 36; Gerald Razon, 26; Anthony Lucendo, 24; Federico Bulaon, 60; Antonio Estrella, 55; Errald Alamo, 21; Maria Bacani, 40; Lilian Militante, 58; Wilfredo Italia, 37; Artemio Bacani Jr., 43; and Roanne Mercado, 22.

The accident left traffic snarled on the NLEx for hours after some of the sand from the truck spilled onto the road. Traffic finally normalized at around noon.

De Guzman told the Inquirer that charges of reckless imprudence resulting in three counts of homicide and 15 counts of physical injuries would be filed against the truck driver.

He said that this was in line with standard operating procedures, considering the number of fatalities in the accident.

The truck driver, however, insisted that he did not do anything wrong.

“I wasn’t going fast,” Gomez, a truck driver for the past 10 years, told the Inquirer.

He said that it never crossed his mind to run away since he knew that he was not at fault.