4 killed, 33 injured as 2 buses collide in Negros Occidental town

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BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Four persons were killed and 33 were injured when two buses collided on Rizal Street, Sitio Ipil, Barangay (village) Pilar, Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, at about 10:40 a.m. on Tuesday, Senior Superintendent Milko Lirazan, Negros Occidental police director, said.

Initial reports said a Ceres/Vallacar Transit airconditioned bus No. 541 was travelling from Cebu towards Bacolod City when it collided with a mini-bus travelling from Bacolod towards Kabankalan.

Four passengers of the mini-bus were killed while 33 others were injured, DYEZ Aksyon Radyo reported.

The police identified the dead as Henry Pendon, 52, of Binalbagan; Wilma Medalla, 23, of Barangay Enclaro, Binalbagan, and said to be three months pregnant; Alfonso Jonaldo of Barangay Carol-an, Kabankalan; and Claudio Lowell Janolino, 35, of Barangay Cambaog, Hinigaran, the conductor of the mini bus.  Police said the conductor who was at the back of the bus at the time of the crash fell and his head was severed on impact.  The right arm of a woman was found under the vehicle, the police said.

Lirazan said of the 33 injured, eight were seriously hurt.

The driver of the Ceres-Vallacar bus, Jonathan Estoya Maghari, 54, of Barangay Batuan, San Enrique town, Negros Occidental, and the driver of the mini bus, identified as Rufino Lorena Banga, 55, of Crossing Sibucao, San Enrique, Lirazan, were both detained at the Hinigaran police station. Banga sustained minor injuries.

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