Driver in Rizal’s fatal bus crash loses two limbs, dies

At least 13 students were killed on Feb. 20, 2017, after this bus hit a post in Tanay, Rizal.  NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Inquirer

MANILA — The driver of a bus involved in an accident that killed 13 students in Rizal province Monday morning has died, the office of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Office said.

Julian Lacorda  Jr.  was critically injured when brought to the Rizal Provincial Hospital in Morong, Rizal.

Doctors declared him dead shortly before 12 noon.

Lacorda was stuck at the gas board as rescuers tried to pull him away from the wreck in Tanay, said Municipal Environment officer Monzar Lanzario, who cried during the rescue.

Lacorda lost his two limbs, he added.

As of this posting on Monday afternoon, Lacorda’s remains were at the FG Funeral Homes in Tanay.

According to the operator of the Panda Bus Transport and Tours, Lacorda had been in the company for only three months.

A report to Superintendent Christopher Dela Pena, chief of the Tanay police, said Lacorda was driving the bus with 58 riders around 8:45 a.m. when the bus lost its brakes and bumped into an electric post near Magnetic Hill, in front of Peligigrino Farm in Sitio  Bayucan, Barangay Sampoloc in Tanay.

The students from The Bestlink Colleges in the Philippines in Novaliches, Quezon City, were on to a 3-day camp to Sacramento Adventure Camp in Tanay for a camping activity.

An investigation is still ongoing.  SFM/rga