A mini-bus carrying 45 passengers plunged into a 100-foot ravine in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija before noon yesterday, killing at least 26 people.
Of the 26 confirmed dead, 18 are women, 7 men, and a child.
Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra, director of the Nueva Ecija provincial police, said the ill-fated Leomarick mini-bus with license plate AUZ 757 was heading to Candon City in Ilocos Sur from Isabela when the accident happened at 11 a.m.
Yarra said the mini-bus was negotiating a downhill portion of the zigzag road before the accident.
Senior Insp. Robert de Guzman, officer-in-charge of the Carranglan town police, said they have not talked to any of the survivors that could help them determine what happened.
De Guzman, however, said bystanders claim the vehicle was running fast.
Local residents and local authorities went to the area and found the totally-wrecked vehicle.
“The vehicle was totally wrecked. The roof and the side portions of the bus were removed, the reason why the passengers were thrown out,” said De Guzman.
“Almost all of the passengers, both dead and injured, were found outside the bus,” he added.
De Guzman said some of the bystanders reported seeing a man, who appeared to be the bus conductor who was able to jump out of the bus before it fell.
But the police official said the man is nowhere to be found.
The town’s mayor Mary Abad said the area is notorious for its sharp curve and that accidents often occur in that same corner.
The mayor however admits the latest road mishap has got to be the worst accident to have ever happened there.
An average of 1,200 people are killed every year due to road accidents.
Among the common reasons of the road accidents are bad overtaking, overspeeding, and mechanical trouble.
Two months ago, 15 college students died when the bus they were riding in hit a concrete post in Rizal.
(AARON RECUENCO)