LAI CHÂU — Thirteen people were killed and three others severely injured after a concrete mixer truck crashed into a passenger car in the northern mountainous province of Lai Châu on September 15.

The accident occurred at 9:30am on National Highway 4D in Tam Đường District when the concrete mixer truck hit the back of the coach carrying 15 people while travelling on a pass. The collision sent both the vehicles down 10 metres into the rocky stream beneath the bridge.

Initial investigation revealed that the truck was travelling at 109km/h, way above the permitted speed. 

Twelve people, including both drivers, were killed on the spot and a child died on the way to the hospital. The three others suffered heavy injuries and have been taken to the Lai Châu General Hospital. After being informed of the accident, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình, who is Chairman of the National Committee for Traffic Safety (NCTS), sent his sympathy to families of the deceased, and words of comfort to the injured.

He assigned the NCTS’s Vice Chairman Khuất Việt Hùng, Deputy Minister of Transport Lê Đình Thọ and leaders of the Ministry of Transport’s agencies to head to the incident site to direct relief efforts.

Bình also asked Lai Châu Province People’s Committee to visit the injured victims and provide assistance for the families of the deceased.

The provincial health sector was requested to focus resources on treating the injured.

Statistics released previously by the NTSC showed that the number of road traffic accidents, traffic-related deaths and injuries in Việt Nam dropped in the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

More than 11,700 road accidents were reported nationwide in the reviewed period, killing nearly 5,370 people and injuring about 9,200 others.

The number of traffic accidents was 7.77 per cent lower than that of last year, while the number of deaths and injuries dropped by 1.03 per cent and 12.66 per cent, respectively.

In August alone, there were 1,432 accidents, killing 650 people and wounding 1,094 others, down 10.67 per cent, 1.66 per cent and 15.72 per cent, respectively, against the same month last year. — VNS