BALAMBAN, Cebu – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered concerned agencies to immediately launch an investigation on the tragic vehicular accident that killed 21 people, including 20 Iranian nationals, last Sunday in Barangay Cansomoroy, this town.

The President, who was in Cebu on an unannounced trip, inquired about the latest development regarding the incident through Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Lani-o Nerez and ordered the
Land Transportation Office (LTO) and other concerned agencies to conduct a thorough probe.

Nerez said the President asked for the exact details of the incident involving a J&D tourist bus that plunged down into a 30-foot ravine in said barangay before noon last Sunday, killing the Filipino driver who also owns the bus, and some 20 Iranians on board.

For his part, Nerez said he has ordered the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) to form a task force and conduct its own probe even as initial investigation revealed that the bus suffered brake malfunction while maneuvering a curvy downward slope.

Nerez said the task force had already been formed even before the Iranian consulate in the Philippines sent word that it is leaving the matter up to Cebu police authorities in making an inquiry into the accident.

Iranian Consul Mohammad Tavana, who arrived in Cebu late Sunday, is accepting that it was an accident, according to Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal Jr., owner of Cebu Doctors Hospital (CDH) where a number of the fatalities and the injured were working as medical residents.

Larrazabal, who met with Tavana Monday morning, said the consul’s primary concern was to ensure that the injured, which includes 24 who are confined at the CDH, would receive proper medical care and that the remains of the fatalities would be brought home to Iran as soon as possible.

He said the Iranian consul did not ask for an investigation because it was clear to him already that it was an accident.

Nerez however, said the police will proceed with a thorough investigation into the incident to determine the cause and who should be held liable for it.

The bodies of the Iranian fatalities, currently lying in state in a local funeral parlor, will be sent back to Iran, a source said.