There have been multiple deadly road crashes involving passenger buses since 2002, including one that killed 42 passengers.
On Christmas Day last year, 20 people were killed when a passenger bus collided head-on with a jeepney in La Union province.
Two weeks earlier, on Dec. 9, a bus on the way to an athletic meet crashed in Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro province, killing two and injuring 26 others. The driver of the bus carrying mostly students and school officials reportedly “lost control of the brake.”
On April 18, 2017, at least 35 people were killed when their bus plunged into a ravine in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija province. Police said 11 died on the spot.
On Feb. 20, 2017, a tourist bus carrying 62 people on a college field trip smashed into an electrical pole in Tanay, Rizal province, killing 13 students, a school official and the driver. The driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle after its brakes failed.
Five passengers, including two pregnant women, were killed and 30 others injured on July 12, 2016, when a bus bound for Manila from Cagayan province hit a roadside barrier and fell on its side on the Maharlika Highway-Cagayan Valley Road.
On Feb. 7, 2014, a Florida Bus rolled off a cliff in Bontoc, Mountain Province, killing comedian Tado (Arvin Jimenez) and 13 other passengers, including two foreigners.
On Feb. 21, 2013, a school bus carrying 31 students returning from a field trip crashed into a food container truck on Marcos Highway at Barangay Badiwan in Tuba, Benguet province, when the bus driver lost control of the vehicle. The accident left seven dead.
On Aug. 18, 2010, a La Union-bound Eso-Nice bus plunged 45 meters down a ravine in Sablan, Benguet, killing 42 of its 50 passengers in one of the country’s deadliest road accidents. The accident led to an investigation on the “kabit” system in which a bus company illegally allows other bus owners to operate using its franchise.
On March 6, 2010, 12 of the 50 passengers of a PJM Love Bus were killed when the bus malfunctioned and slammed into an acacia tree on Marcos Highway at Barangay Palina in Pugo, La Union.
On May 11, 2005, a mechanical trouble on a Byron bus caused the vehicle to crash into a roadside boulder on Marcos Highway in Barangay Badiwan in Tuba, Benguet, leaving 27 dead and 17 injured..
On Feb. 2, 2002, a Norton bus hit a mountainside and plunged into a 37-meter-deep ravine in Barangay Poblacion in Bokod, Benguet. The accident killed 16 people. —Ana Isabela D. Lumain and Kyra Louise G. Sandejas / Inquirer Junior Interns
Source: Inquirer Archives