Report: 1 dead, 19 hurt as bus falls off bridge in Antique

At least one person was killed while 19 others were injured when a passenger bus fell off a bridge in Patnongon town in Antique province on Sunday afternoon. Radio dzBB’s Iloilo affiliate reported on Monday that the Ceres bus (with plate number MVJ-475) was on its way to Iloilo province from Caticlan town in Aklan when it fell from a bridge. Driver Floren Condia, 42, claimed that the bus’ brakes failed. The report initially identified the fatality as Rodrigo Sayson, 50, of San Joaquin town in Iloilo. At least five passengers were seriously injured and had to undergo surgery. They were brought to a hospital in Iloilo province for treatment. One of the passengers said the bus was speeding shortly before the accident, where it fell into a river 20 feet below the national highway. Some 40 passengers were on board the Ceres bus when it figured in the accident. Condia and conductor Jan Alviola were among the injured. Other bus accidents The accident came hours after at least 15 people were hurt when a minibus figured in an accident along the Manila-Cavite Expressway before dawn on Sunday. Only on Friday, a speeding bus crashed onto an acacia tree in Bicol, killing some of its passengers. Patnongon is a fourth-class town with a population of 31,555 people in 6,381 households. – VVP, GMANews.TV