8 dead, 17 hurt in La Union bus mishap

Eight people were killed while at least 17 others were injured after a bus carrying tourists from Laguna slammed into an acacia tree along Marcos Highway in Barangay Palina in Pugo, La Union on Saturday afternoon, a local police official said. Chief Insp. Jacinto Lipaen, chief of the Pugo municipal police station, told GMANews.TV that a PJM Love Bus bus figured in the accident at around 5:40 p.m. Saturday after its brakes malfunctioned while negotiating a downward slope along Marcos Highway, instantly killing eight of its 49 passengers. The bus was carrying tourists, who were all from the St. Peter Parish in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, back to Manila from an excursion in Baguio City when the accident happened, according to Lipaen. The police chief likewise said that all 17 passengers who were injured during the accident were brought to the Baguio General Hospital for treatment. Police have yet to identify the fatalities and injured passengers as of posting time, since no means of identification were retrieved from them, Lipaen said.—Andreo C. Calonzo/JV, GMANews.TV