At least 6 dead, more than 50 hurt as tourist bus hits tree in Batangas

Updated on April 22, 2016, 4:20 p.m.

Originally posted on April 22, 2016, 12:49 p.m.

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines—At least six people were killed while more than 50 others were hurt when a bus, which was carrying teachers from Rizal province, rammed into a tree in Mataas na Kahoy town in Batangas province on Friday, police said.

Senior Insp. Daniel dela Cruz, Mataas na Kahoy police chief, said the bus was ferrying at least 59 people, most of them teachers of the Angono Elementary School in Angono town in Rizal, when they met the accident at 8:30 a.m.

They were on their way to the Shercon Resort in Mataas na Kahoy for an outing, he said.

The bus was traversing the provincial road in Barangay (village) San Sebastian when the driver, Christopher Plando, warned his passengers that he had lost control of the vehicle after its brakes failed.

“Palusong yung daan (The road was downhill). One of the survivors said the driver screamed to warn them that the bus had lost its brakes,” Dela Cruz said.

The vehicle hit a roadside tree and fell into a meter deep canal. Police had yet to identify the fatalities on Friday afternoon. The injured passengers were taken to hospitals in Lipa City in Batangas.

Dela Cruz said he could not say if all the fatalities were teachers. “It was an outing. [The teachers] could have brought their relatives,” he said.

Dela Cruz said the driver survived. Investigators, he said, were checking if there were children on the bus. CDG/RAM

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