By: Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City Twenty-two persons were injured after a sports utility vehicle (SUV) collided with a Ceres Liner bus at Barangay Sampinit, Bago City, Negros Occidental Wednesday morning.
The wounded victims included 19 passengers and the bus conductor who suffered minor bruises and wounds.
Also wounded were bus driver Rolando Sondia, 46, of Kabankalan City, and SUV driver Ramel Emilanan, 31, of Bacolod City.
Police Lieutenant Leonel Adolacion, deputy chief for operations of Bago City Police Station, said the SUV, which was reportedly speeding, was traveling from Bacolod to southern Negros when it allegedly hit a bus, which was running on the opposite direction at around 5:30 a.m.
Sondia swerved the bus to avoid the vehicle but it fell on a canal, he added.
Adolacion said Emilanan, who was told by his employer to go to a construction site, allegedly lost control over the vehicle which caused the collision.
Adolacion said the Vallacar Transit Inc. has already extended assistance to the victims while the owner of the SUV had an initial settlement with the bus company and the victims.
