13th victim in Vietnam's buses-truck collision dies
Another victim in a collision between two buses and one truck that left 12 people dead and 40 others injured in Binh Thuan Province on May 22 has succumbed to severe burns.
Vy Thanh Hieu, 46, died on May 24 at Ho Chi Minh City's Cho Ray Hospital, where he and three others with the most serious injuries were being treated, local media reported.
He was one of the passengers on the two sleeper buses which crashed head-on on the National Road 1A's section in Ham Thuan Nam District at around 4 a.m., before being burned down in a blaze.
One of the buses belonged to transport company Phuong Trang and was heading to Ho Chi Minh City from the central province of Quang Ngai. The other was bound for the central province of Ha Tinh.
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According to initial information from police, both the buses were moving within the speed limit of 70 kilometers per hour.
When the buses were on fire, a truck crashed into them and quickly caught fire as well.
Locals and rescuers managed to evacuate 40 people, while 12 others were trapped.
Investigators are looking into the cause.
Official figures showed four accidents on the same road section since 2015. A total of 26 people have been killed.
The eight-kilometer section is 13 meters wide, which is too narrow to host four lanes, local media reported, citing Pham Van Nam, director of Binh Thuan's Transport Department.
Traffic accidents kill 24 people on average every day, according to official statistics. Vietnam now has nearly 2.75 million cars and 45 million motorbikes.
