34 injured as bus rams into acacia tree

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines  – Thirty-four bus passengers, including the driver, sustained injuries when their vehicle, which was en route to this city from Cubao, Quezon City, rammed into a huge acacia tree in Naga City early yesterday morning, authorities said.

The St. Jude bus with license plate EVG-964 and body number 1911 was cruising the national highway at around 5:30 a.m. yesterday when it swerved and hit the acacia tree by the roadside in Barangay Del Rosario.

The bus driver, Severino Padua Jr., and his assistant were rushed to the Mother Seton Hospital, and the rest of those injured to the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City for emergency treatment, said Maj. Harold Cabunoc, spokesman of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division based at Camp Elias in Pili, Camarines Sur.  

Cabunoc said Padua, who was in critical condition, was sleepy when the accident happened.