Ten dead, dozens of injured, after bus accident in the Philippines

Ten people were killed and more than 30 injured after a bus hit different vehicles at a toll gate on one of the busiest highways in North Philippines, the authorities say.

The bus driver, who was held, said he had fallen asleep behind the wheel, told the police to AFP, and added that four children were among the dead.

Buses on the nearly 100 km (62mi) Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway often transport employees between Manila and the surrounding provinces. The accident happened on Thursday while families traveled for Labor Day.

The Ministry of Transport ordered the suspension of Solid North Bus, a large bus operator in the region and the company that had the vehicle involved in the crash.

The bus driver can be accused of “reckless carelessness that results in several murders,” the police told AFP. The bus conductor has also been held.

The accident also included three vehicles for Sport Utility and one container car, said the Filipino Red Cross in a Facebook message.

The organization said in a different position on Wednesday that the food and other help offered people in the hospital who were injured by the crash.

Deadly bus accidents are not uncommon in the Philippines.

Drug use among bus drivers have also achieved the headlines in recent weeks – although it is unclear whether it was a factor in the Thursday accident.

In April, some public vehicle companies – including buses, jeepneys and tricycli – were confronted with suspension after 84 of the drivers had been tested positively on prohibited substances.

Transport secretary Vince Dizon will meet representatives of nearly 30 bus companies from nearly 30 bus companies on Friday after recent accident, the local media reported.

“I will really discover it. I will be honest with them. What is the matter, why do you all have accidents, why are your drivers all positive testing on drugs,” he said.

“I will be immediately at our bus companies, because if they don’t get their act together, if they don’t shape, they will really regret.”

In 2023 17 bus passengers died after the brakes of the vehicle had failed and it dived into a canyon in Central Philippines, along a winding road known among the locals as the “Killer Curve”.