The People's Committee of Kon Tum Province's Dak Glei District has urged local police and authorised agencies to quickly search for the culprits involved in attacks on passenger buses.

Truong Trieu Luong, a bus passenger, lost his left eye after he was hit by a rock on September 24, 2014. 

The local police and authorised agencies were asked to focus on finding the reason for the attacks in which stones were thrown at the buses, causing panic among the passengers and transport companies. They were also instructed to apply strict penalties on the culprits. The investigation has to be completed and the report submitted to the committee before this Friday.

On Monday, transport companies from Dak Lak Province, including Ngoc Thong, Mai Thao and Nguyen Trai, and the Sao Vang Company from Binh Phuoc Province said stones were thrown at their buses as they passed through Dak Glei District at night.

Pham Dinh Sy, the driver of a passenger bus of Ngoc Thong Company, said his bus was carrying more than 30 passengers from Thua Thien Hue to Dak Lak, when stones were thrown at the bus by some people from both two sides of the national highway in Dak Glei District.

He stopped the bus as the passengers shouted for help. Two glass doors of the bus were broken. Luckily, no one was injured.

Another passenger bus of Mai Thao Company also had its glasses broken and the bus was partly damaged after stones were thrown at it in the same place.

After the incident, the National Steering Committee of Traffic Safety asked the provincial Traffic Safety Committee to investigate the case and mobilise police to patrol National Highway 14 in the district to maintain security.

Last month, a teenager of Ea H'leo District in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for throwing stones at two buses travelling on a national highway, causing a passenger to lose his left eye last September.

Bui Viet Tuan was one of the four teenagers who threw stones at buses on the night of September 24, 2014. He was also forced to pay about VND12 million (US$553) as compensation to the two transport companies.

The three other boys, aged between 14 and 16, were not charged due to their young age.

The boys said they threw stones at buses just for fun and were not aware of consequences. 

VNS