Bus drags baby, mother into river

 By DOROTHY MARK

A 30-seater bus hit and dragged a woman and her nine-month-old baby into the Sagalau River in Madang yesterday.

Miraculously, the child survived with hardly a scratch but the mother and a female passenger received injuries while the driver was reported missing.

The accident happened between 9am and 10am when the bus was travelling from town towards RD Tuna Canners.

Eyewitness Harold Bangan said the bus lost control and went off its lane and hit a low cement slab of the bridge and dived into river below.

Bangan said he was sitting at the Sagalau school fence facing the road and bridge and saw what happened.

“When the bus went off its left lane, it took the right lane and hit and dragged the mother and her baby and they all crashed into the creek,” he said.

Bangan said the woman and her baby were walking towards the bridge to cross over to Sagalau market when the bus hit them five meters away from the bridge and threw them into the river.

Traffic officer Gunter Baso said the only passenger in the bus was a female worker with RD Tuna Canner.

He said the baby’s mother, the RD Tuna employee and the bus crew had serious injuries but the baby was in good condition.

“It was a miracle the baby hardly had any scratch, it’s unbelievable but it happened,” Baso said.

He said the mother put all her effort to save the baby resulting in herself getting serious injuries.

The driver who could not be found is believed to be either trapped in the creek or had escaped.