Ten people were killed and more than 30 injured after a bus hit several vehicles at a charge of one of the most busy highways in the northern Philippines, the authorities say.
The driver of the bus, which was detained, said he was asleep on the wheel, police told AFP, adding that four children were among the dead.
Buses nearly 100 km (62MI) Subic-Clark-Tarlac Assustrway often ferry workers between Manila and the surrounding provinces. The incident on Thursday happened while the families were traveling for Labor Day.
The Ministry of Transport has ordered the suspension of Solid North Bus, a major bus operator in the region and the company that owns the vehicle participating in the crash.
The bus driver can be accused of “reckless misunderstanding, leading to multiple killings,” police told AFP. The bus conductor was also detained.
The accident also included three sports utilities and one container truck, said the Filipino Red Cross in a Facebook publication.
The organization said in another publication on Wednesday that it provides food and other assistance to people in a hospital that were injured by the crash.
Deadly bus accidents are not uncommon in the Philippines.
The use of drugs among bus drivers has also made titles in recent weeks – although it is not clear if it is a factor in the incident on Thursday.
In April, some public vehicle companies – including buses, jeep and tricycles – were confronted with suspension after 84 of its drivers tested positively for prohibited substances.
Transport secretary Vince Dizon will meet with representatives of nearly 30 bus companies on Friday after a recent crash, local media reported.
“If the driver in this case was sleepy, we have to ask how long it works. Maybe the bus company has forced him to work for long hours?” He said in an interview with the local GMA Network television network. “We have to look at everything, not just about the patchwork of solutions.”
In 2023, 17 bus passengers died after the vehicle brakes failed and it dive into a ravine in the central Philippines, by a winding road known to locals as the “killer curve”.