Survivors of the accident have been treated in Bắc Ninh General Hospital.— Photo thanhnien.vn |
BẮC NINH — At least two people were killed and 12 others injured after the sleeper bus they were travelling in suddenly exploded on Tuesday night in northern Bắc Ninh Province.
The accident occurred at 10:30pm when the bus, with registered plate 14B-00694, carrying some 40 people, was travelling on a section of National Highway No 18 through the province’s Đào Viên Commune.
Local police are identifying the dead while the injured are being treated at the Bắc Ninh General Hospital, the Thanh Niên (Young People) online newspaper reported.
Survivor Nguyễn Văn Toàn, 22, of Bắc Giang Province’s Hiệp Hòa District, said, “I woke up on hearing the explosion; then I felt lightheaded. I saw everybody in the bus trying desperately to get outside.”
“Some people sleeping on the upper deck fell out of the bus; it was terrible,” he said.
Nông Đức Thương, 22, of Tuyên Quang Province, another injured survivor, said, “I smelt the burning stench at about 10pm, and then all of the sudden the explosion occurred and everybody screamed.”
Vũ Đức Anh, 24, of Tuyên Quang Province, said he, like Thương, also smelt the burning odour before the explosion.
According to the survivors, the explosion may have been triggered by something at the bottom of the bus, since most of the injured were passengers sleeping on the bottom of the bus.
Hạ Bá Chân, director of Bắc Ninh General Hospital, said all the injured were in stable condition following treatment.
The cause of the explosion remains unidentified. The police are investigating the case. — VNS
The exploded sleeper bus at the scene last night. — VNA/VNS Photo |