Drunk driver crashes bus in Tuba; 14 cheat death

TUBA, Benguet – Police are set to file charges against a drunken driver who crashed a Manila-bound bus onto a mountain slope in Barangay Poyopoy here, late afternoon May 16.

Fourteen passengers of the passenger bus cheated death but Chief Supt. Villamor Bumanglag, Cordillera Region police director ordered charges filed against bus driver Mahemias Dela Rosa Paulino, 42, married and native of Kapangan, Benguet.

Probers said Paulino was reeking of liquor when questioned over the accident.

He is now locked up in the Tuba Municipal Jail, awaiting charges of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple injuries, said Bumanglag.

Police investigation showed the bus was traversing Marcos Highway, here, bound to Metro Manila when the driver lost control of the vehicle while engaging a sharp curve and went in the direction of a cliff.

A last-minute maneuver prevented the bus from falling into the ravine but it crashed on the mountain slope, resulting to the injury of 14 passengers.

The victims were rescued by local residents and taken to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center for medical treatment.

One of them remained in the hospital May 23due to serious injuries.

Bumanglag appealed to motorists traveling along the region’s mountainside roads never to drink before sitting behind the wheel. – Dexter A. See