16 hurt as truck collides with bus in Naga City, Cebu

A 16-wheeler flat truck collides with a Ceres bus in Naga City, Cebu, on Sept. 6, 2016. Sixteen were injured. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ CHANIX TATUM)

CEBU CITY — At least 16 persons were injured after a 16-wheeler flat truck lost its brakes and collided with a Ceres bus that was traveling on the opposite lane while at the vicinity of Barangay Uling in Naga City in southern Cebu, past 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

A portion of the Naga-Uling road was closed for at least two hours while clearing operations was ongoing, said Rey Mantalaba of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (DRRMC).

Mantalaba said those wounded  were brought to the South General Hospital and the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for treatment.

Uling Barangay Chair Josie Dakay said that his Barangay Health Works (BHWs) and nearby residents provided first aid treatment to the victims, most of whom suffered cuts and bruises in different parts of the body, before they were transferred to nearby hospitals on board their barangay ambulance and the city-owned ambulance.

“The area is accident prone because it is an uphill road with several blind curves,” he said in Cebuano.

The accident, Dakay said, happened about 5:15 p.m. at the vicinity of Sitio Tambis 1 in Uling Proper.  The area is located about 150 to 200 meters from the Uling barangay hall and about 14 kilometers away from  City Hall.

Dakay said that the 16-wheeler flat truck that carried limestone was maneuvering a downhill with an elevation of about 25 degrees.  It came from the neighboring city of Toledo.

The bus, which had 15 to 20 passengers, was maneuvering an uphill on the other side of the road on its way to Toledo City.

Dakay said that based on witnesses’ accounts, the truck driver who remained unidentified as of Tuesday night, appeared to have lost control of the vehicle when it lost its brakes and then collided with the approaching bus.

Mantalaba said the collision severed the driver’s side of the bus.  The truck’s front and back portion were also damaged.

He said that after the collision, the truck turned and the bus later hit the truck’s rear portion.

Dakay said limestone was thrown into the highway.

He said that the truck obstructed both lanes, forcing emergency responders to cut it into two pieces using heavy equipment from the city government and the Carmen Copper Corp. in Toledo City.  Passing vehicles were diverted to an alternative road.

The Toledo City bound-lane of Naga-Uling road was made passable again by 8 p.m. Clearing continued on the left lane.  SFM