The homemade bomb exploded just as the bag was brought out of the bus, killing instantly the driver and the soldier and injuring seriously the bus conductor who died in a Davao City hospital some 70 kilometers away, rescue volunteers said.
Donna Cortes, Red Cross volunteer from Digos City told MindaNews they recorded a total of nine dead with the conductor of Weena Bus 1104 seriously injured.
But in Digos City, where the injured were rushed to hospital, Adelaida Badilla, social welfare officer and action officer of the Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council of Sta. Cruz said the bus conductor, identified as Rusty Antelino, died in the hospital in Davao City.
Bansalan has clinics but the nearest area with hospitals is Digos City. The Digos hospitals, however, are not as equipped so the four patients rushed to the provincial hospital from Bansalan, including Antelino, were transfered to Davao City where he died.
A still unidentified female victim who was rushed to the provincial hospital in Digos along with Antelino and two others, also died. Her remains are in the Mariscal funeral parlor in Digos City, along with the bus driver’s and the soldier’s
Badilla’s list of dead include the following: Pepe Billote of Bansalan;. Wilson Menel of Magsaysay; Ricardo Tulibas of Bansalan, Cpl. Daryl Potestas, the bus driver known as Lu; three unidentifed males and one female. The tenth was Antelino.
Another homemade bomb also exploded at the Weena Bus terminal in Cotabato City some 15 minutes after the Bansalan blast but no one was injured.