A 66-year-old man of Poutasii, Falealili, died on Monday night from serious injuries he sustained from the bus crash at Malifa on Monday morning.
Police Commissioner Auapa’au Logoitino Filipo confirmed the fatality, adding the bus driver of the Laumoso’oi Transport Company bus has been charged with negligent driving causing death and negligent driving causing injuries to passengers.
Samoa Observer reports the elderly man who died was one of four passengers who were in critical condition, while the rest of the passengers were discharged from the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital on Monday.
One of the bus passengers, Iosua Nouata, told Samoa Observer at the national hospital on Monday that the bus lost control in Papauta going downhill.
He claimed the bus’s brakes broke and this led to it accelerating, until it came to a halt when it hit a Hyundai Tucson at Malifa.
The passenger also alleged the bus has had engine problems for the past five weeks with the driver, allegedly, using the hand brake to stop the bus.
A late report of a second death from the same crash on Monday could not be confirmed.
