The Phap Luat Online (PLO) (Law Online) newspaper quoted sources from the National Traffic Safety Committee as saying that in a mere three days from February 7 to 9, 115 traffic accidents were reported nationwide that left 69 dead and 64 injured.

Of the total, 113 were road accidents that claimed 68 lives and left 63 injured, while two were rail accidents that killed one person and injured another.

Three of the accidents were deemed the most serious. They included an untripped rollover of a vehicle in Thanh Hoa Province on February 7 on Highway 15C, which left three dead and four injured; a collision between a sleeper bus and a coach on February 9 in Binh Thuan Province, in which 10 died and nine were injured; and a motorbike's head-on crash in Tra Vinh Province on February 2 that killed three persons.

During the three-day period, traffic police across the nation detained 41 cars and 2,403 motorbikes, and revoked 677 driving licences.

Lorry collision near Hue City leaves two dead

A collision between two lorries killed two persons on the bypass road of Hue City yesterday evening.

According to reports, a lorry with registration number 43C-075.71 that was travelling towards Hue and Da Nang, crashed into another lorry with registration number 76C-038.53 that was going in the opposite direction. The second lorry was being driven by Nguyen Thien Vuong, 42, a resident of Quang Ngai Province.

The accident happened at 5pm at Km 28+750 on the bypass road, killing the driver of the first lorry and his assistant instantly. Their bodies were trapped in the cabin of their vehicle.

The two victims have not been identified yet.

Authorised agencies are investigating the accident and are addressing its aftermath.

On the evening of the same day, another accident happened outside the terminal of Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City, leaving 11 people injured, three of them critically.

The injured have been hospitalised at Thong Nhat, 115, 7A, Nhi Dong 1 and An Binh hospitals in the city.

The city's Tan Binh District police said that the alleged culprit was Nguyen Duy Tan, 25, from the city's Nha Be District, who was driving an Audi with the registration number 51A-661.28.

Ship rescues 11 fishermen near Paracel Islands

A fishing vessel capsized and another ran aground on a reef on Tuesday near the Paracel Islands.

In all, 11 fishermen from the two vessels were rescued by a ship SAR 412, from the Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre No II in Da Nang (Da Nang MRCC), at about 8am on Wednesday.

In the first incident, a vessel with registration number BD 95427 TS of Binh Dinh Province, captained by Tran Kim Chung, sank at 4pm on Tuesday, leaving all five crew members afloat in a substitute ‘basket boat'.

Another vessel carrying six people, with registration number BD 95569 TS and also of Binh Dinh Province, ran aground on a reef almost at the same time. Its captain was Tran Van Quoc.

Phan Xuan Son, the captain of the rescue ship, said that the 11 fishermen from the two vessels were in good health, despite battling the huge waves and cold wind.

Communications with them was maintained, he said, adding that his ship will transport only the fishermen home and will leave the two vessels behind.

In another development, sources from Da Nang MRCC reported they had dispatched another ship to rescue an injured fisherman from a vessel 80 nautical miles offshore Da Nang City on Tuesday.

Fishing vessel DNA 3427 TS, with Doan Van Mau as the captain, earlier called the rescue centre and reported that a crew member named Tran Cong Diep, 31, of Da Nang, had tripped and fallen over the propeller. Mau added that Diep was unconscious and asked for an immediate rescue service from the centre.

The rescue ship – SAR 274 – set off with two doctors on board and reached the fishing vessel at 9.30pm. The doctors provided first aid to the victim, who was said to be in critical condition and having breathing difficulties. By 1am the next day, the rescue ship reached the shore and Diep was taken to a hospital immediately.

Lane encroachment caused Binh Thuan bus collision: report

Nine persons, injured in a bus accident that killed 10 people in Binh Thuan Province on Monday, are not longer in critical condition, said reports from Binh Thuan General Hospital.

Two of the injured persons have already been discharged, while the rest will be discharged today or tomorrow.

The ten persons killed in the accident have been identified and their bodies have been taken to their hometowns for burial.

Meanwhile, a report by the Binh Thuan registration centre said that lane encroachment was the main reason for the accident.

A sleeper bus encroached on the lane of another coach travelling in the opposite direction, leading to a collision, killing 10 people, the report said.

The sleeper bus was travelling from HCM City to the central province of Nghe An.

The inspection of both vehicles is still ongoing.

Data from the black boxes of the buses showed that the sleeper bus was running at 73kmph, about 3km over the speed limit.

The concerned agencies in Binh Thuan have been prompt in determining whether the accident was caused by speeding of the sleeper bus or encroachment on the other lane.

Two buses have been dispatched to help the sleeper bus passengers continue their journey to their hometown in Nghe An Province.

Man found dead in warehouse elevator

A 42-year-old man was found dead in a warehouse elevator of a seafood packaging company in Lam Hoanh Street, An Lac Ward, in HCM City's Tan Binh District yesterday.

Witnesses identified the victim as To Tuan Kiet, an employee of the company and a resident of District 8 in the city.

The concerned authorities visited the warehouse to conduct an investigation into the incident.

Two women drown in boat collision

Two women were drowned when their sampan capsized in the river after it was hit by a motor boat in the southern province of Long An.

While the two victims could not swim, three other women who were on the sampan managed to make it to the shore, the Vnexpress online newspaper reported.

The women were rowing the sampan across the river to cut grass on the other side.

On Monday morning, after several hours of search, local residents found and retrieved the bodies of Hoang Thi Tham, 30, and Vu Thi Hai, 40. Both were residents of Say Giang Village in Vinh Hung Commune, in Long An Province's Vinh Hung District.

The motor boat, driven by 28-year-old Nguyen Phu Loc, is the typical vessel that local people use to transport paddy.

Nguyen Van Men, vice chairman of Vinh Hung District People's Committee, said that the local authorities visited the victims' families to express their condolences.

Authorised agencies are investigating the incident.

Police uncover several smuggling cases in Quang Ninh

The Quang Ninh Province police have seized sizeable amounts of smuggled goods in different cases over a short period.

On Monday, at the Bai Chay Bridge toll station, the provincial police's central traffic patrol team discovered a car, with the registration number 14B-002.33, carrying four boxes of mobile phone components, ornamental plants and speakers, with the total worth estimated at VND100 million (US$5000).

The car's driver could not provide any documents to show the place of origin of the cargo. The patrol team handed over the case to the provincial city of Ha Long's market watch team for further investigation.

Earlier, at 6.30pm on Sunday, the same police team on Highway 18 discovered another case of smuggling in Quang Hanh area in the province's Cam Pha City.

The police inspected a car, carrying the registration number 36C-029.87, and found that it contained 2,000 sets of children's toys, 50 Chinese-style lanterns, and other imported items, including speakers, light-emitting diodes and microphones.

The driver, Truong Van Phuong, born in 1983, also could not produce any document showing the place of origin of the cargo. The case has been transferred to the Cam Pha Police's economic affairs team for further investigation.

In the same area, the provincial police's task force for traffic patrol and crime control had discovered two coaches, with registration numbers 18B-012.76 and 36N-0709, hiding 9.6kg of crackers of various types last Friday and Saturday.

The use of crackers has long been banned in Viet Nam.

VNS