20 dead as road carnage adds to Christmas woes in Philippines

Twenty worshipers were killed in a road accident in the northern Philippines as they traveled to a dawn Christmas service — the latest in a string of deadly tragedies to beset the Southeast Asian country during the holiday period.

The accident occurred in the town of Agoo, some 200 km north of the capital Manila, when a public bus collided with a smaller private vehicle at around 3:30 a.m. local time Monday (2.30 p.m Sunday ET), Jason Falao, a senior police officer in Agoo, told CNN.

All the fatalities were aboard the smaller vehicle, an Isuzu SUV-style jeepney. It was carrying 29 people, taking the passengers to Manaoag church in the neighboring province of Pangasinan, a well-known pilgrimage destination in the heavily Catholic Philippines.

The jeepney was heading north when it overtook another vehicle and crashed into the bigger bus, Falao said. He added one person on the bus sustained minor injuries.

Jeepneys, informal minibuses, are a ubiquitous form of transportation throughout the Philippines.

Typhoon Tembin: Dozens killed

The deaths come as Filipinos, many in the southern island of Mindanao, are still reeling from a weekend of lashing winds and flooding brought about by Typhoon Tembin, known locally as Vinta.

After battering the southern island of Mindanao, Tembin slammed into another set of Philippine islands late Saturday.

The storm has killed at least 164 people, sweeping away residents and leaving communities buried in mud, authorities said Monday.

There are an additional 171 people missing, Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) spokeswoman Mina Marasigan said during a press conference.

Officials have given conflicting death tolls since the storm ravaged towns and displaced thousands. In response to reports of the varying tolls, the spokeswoman said that there may be higher counts elsewhere but they are still unconfirmed and unverified.

Over 20,000 families are currently being housed in evacuation centers, and a further 16,500 families are sheltering with relatives, according to a NDRRMC press briefing.

Search, rescue and retrieval operations have continued over the weekend and into Christmas Day, with 500 teams comprised of almost 4,000 individuals from various agencies involved.

The end of the year is an active time for storms in the Philippines. In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, considered by some to be among the strongest storm in recent years to make landfall, claimed over 6,000 lives.

People gather on a bridge which was damaged by flooding brought about by tropical storm Tembin on Sunday, in Zamboanga Del Sur in the southern Philippines.

The current storm left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) Sunday, and has made landfall in southern Vietnam. It is currently a weak typhoon, with 120 kph (75 mph) sustained winds, according to CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. It is expected to continue to weaken rapidly over this region, moving into southern Cambodia and then to Thailand over the next 24 hours.

Deadly fire

Elsewhere in the Southeast Asian country, at least 36 people were missing and feared dead after a fire broke out at a shopping mall on Saturday in the city of Davao, also on Mindanao, authorities said.

At a press conference Sunday, only one body had been recovered from the New City Commercial Center, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte confirmed. At the conference she called the fire “an unfortunate incident,” according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

President Rodrigo Duterte visited the relatives of the victims of the fire Sunday. The president was formerly mayor of Davao City; the current administrator is his daughter.