Pharmacy student, 3 others killed, 43 hurt as 2 buses collide in Negros

BACOLOD CITY — A pharmacy student and three other passengers died, while 43 were injured when two Ceres Liner buses of the Vallacar Transit Inc., which were travelling in opposite directions, hit each other along the national highway of Brgy. Santo Niño in EB Magalona, Negros Occidental, shortly before 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

The two passenger buses fell on their side, causing deaths and injuries to passengers.

Four of the passengers, who bore injuries in the head, died on the spot, while the 43 injured were brought to the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni  Provincial Hospital in Silay City, and to the different hospitals in Bacolod City.

Senior Inspector Conrado Rances III, EB Magalona police chief, said the Ceres Liner bus bound for Escalante and driven by Leo Siocon, tried to overtake another vehicle using the right outer lane.

Failing to do so and to prevent the bus from falling into a canal, Siocon maneuvered the bus to the left lane, which was being used by another Ceres Liner bus bound for Bacolod City.

The northbound bus driven by Siocon hit the rear portion of another approaching bus travelling southwards, triggering a crash. Both buses fell to their right, while one of the four fatalities was thrown out of the bus.

Two of the fatalities were identified by the police as Nemia Jumawan Pacino, 19, a 4th year pharmacy student of Colegio de San Agustin in Bacolod City and a scholar of the Simag Foundation, and Ronnie Jabaro, 25, a fare collector of the Ceres Liner bus bound for Bacolod City. The two other fatalities have not been identified by the police, as their faces were mangled beyond recognition.

Siocon and his fare collector, Shabiros Cuervo, are now detained at the EB Magalona Police Station, pending further investigation of the vehicular accident.

In previous months, several vehicular accidents had taken place in Brgy. Santo Niño and neighboring Brgy. San Jose in EB Magalona, which residents

call “mariit (a place of dangerous enchantment)” and the “killer highway.”

Rances, however, said most of the vehicular accidents in the area occurred due to human error.