After bus crash, DPWH orders check of Benguet road conditions

After a bus crash that killed at least 42 people Wednesday, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has ordered an inspection of the road conditions in the Cordillera Autonomous Region. Radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported on Thursday that the DPWH will check whether there are enough road warning signs in potential danger spots in Benguet where a bus carrying 51. people. Only nine persons survived, including the driver and bus conductor. Senior Superintendent Wilben Mayor, provincial police director, told GMANews.TV that many of the passengers of the La Union-bound Eso-Nice bus from Baguio City died on the spot when it plunged into a 100-foot deep ravine off Naguilian Road in Sablan town. The initial investigation showed that the incident occurred around 9:22 a.m., when the ESO-NICE passenger bus (with plate number AVB-549, body number 80), bound for San Fernando, La Union, fell into the ravine. According to reports, among those killed were four Americans of Filipino ancestry, all members of the same family, and an Indian national. Another passenger who died was a pregnant woman carrying a six-month-old baby in her womb. Some 500 volunteers conducted rescue operations through thick vegetation and boulders of solid rock, hoping to find other survivors. The curve of the road where the accident happened was the same site of another gruesome bus crash that happened more than a decade ago. In January 1999, a bus also fell into the ravine, killing 30 people and injuring 19 others. According to a GMA News report, at least three other major vehicular mishaps happened along Naguilian highway. The majority of the bodies of the Eso-Nice crash have been identified. However, police have yet to identify 15 others. The bodies of a few others still have to be recovered from the wreckage. Most of the bodies have been brought to La Funeraria Paz in Baguio City. –VVP, GMANews.TV