A crash between a lorry and passenger bus on the Hanoi-Bac Giang National Highway Expressway yesterday noon left two people dead and six injured.

Railway officials and workers use a specialised crane to separate the cabs of two cargo trains that collided at Núi Thành railway station in the central province of Quảng Nam Province on May 26. 

The dead are 30-year-old Nguyễn Văn Khánh from Hưng Yên Province and 36-year-old Lò Văn Thu from Điện Biên Province. Khánh and Thu were sitting at the back of the Ford Transit vehicle.

Among the injured, two were rushed to Bắc Ninh General Hopistal in nearby Bắc Ninh Province whereas the other four were hospitalised in Bắc Giang Province’s General Hospital.

Local witnesses said the 16-seat passenger bus was crashed into from behind by a truck when it was dropping off passengers under the Đình Trám Flyover on the way from Lạng Sơn Province to Hà Nội, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The crash threw the bus some hundreds of metres forward and smashed it up. Local residents rushed to aid the passengers, according to Voice of Vietnam.

Provincial authorities and police arrived quickly at the scene to handle the incident.

The accident on the road section through Bắc Giang Province’s Việt Yên District added to the already high number of traffic accidents reported nationwide over the weekend.

On the same day, a sleeper bus carrying 42 people crashed into a field by the side of National Highway 1 through central Phú Yên Province’s Tuy An District. Initial reports said the driver, Phạm Minh Hiện, born 1985, lost control while driving north. Four passengers were injured.

Also in Quảng Nam yesterday, a fishing vessel caught fire when it was on the way to dock at Tam Quang wharf.

Firemen were called to stamp out the fire, but the boat was completely destroyed due to the fuel contained in the cargo hold.

The fire caused losses of VNĐ10 billion (US$442,000).

Four railroad traffics in four days

Rescue forces yesterday were called to help recover the operations of the north-south railway system at Núi Thành railway station in Quảng Nam Province after two cargo trains collided on Saturday afternoon. The efforts paid off as the rail route was opened to regular traffic at 4:30pm.

Director of the provincial department of transport Lê Văn Sinh said railway rescue forces and vehicles had been called from Quảng Bình and Khánh Hòa provinces, while 10 buses were sent to carry passengers from Núi Thành to Quảng Ngãi Province.

Sinh said the accident occurred when two trains – ASY2 travelling from HCM City to Hà Nội – and a cargo train running from the opposite direction, collided in an entrance section to Núi Thành railway station.

The accident derailed two locomotives and four coaches, damaging 100m of rail and injuring a driver of the cargo train.

No passengers were reported injured.

Another railway accident was reported yesterday following a collision between a concrete transport truck and a freight train in central Nghệ An Province. The accident caused no casualties but badly damaged the truck’s cabin.

Due to carelessness when passing a level crossing with warning in the area, the truck’s driver crashed into a train running on the North-South route.

Head of the Việt Nam Railway Corporation’s Traffic Safety Department Phạm Nguyễn Chiến told Vietnamplus that the accident happened in Diễn Châu District’s Mỹ Lý-Chợ Sỹ area.

The accident left both the truck and train’s drivers unharmed but stopped railway traffic for more than an hour, he said. 

This was the fourth accident involving the railway sector over the past three days with the most severe occurring on Thursday in central Thanh Hóa Province, killing two people and injuring 10 others.

Earlier on Saturday, a rock-carrying train running from Hà Tĩnh Province’s Hương Khê District to Nghệ An Province’s Vinh City derailed when it was entering Yên Xuân Station in Hưng Nguyên District in Nghệ An Province. No casualties were reported. 

Regarding the railway accidents, chairman of Việt Nam Railways Corporation (VNR)’s Member Board Vũ Anh Minh told Vietnam News Agency that the use of science and technology in the railway sector remained inadequate.

"Since late last year, VNR built up schemes to better control all phases involving railway operation, especially the application of science and technology to mitigate operation mistakes probably caused by humans,” said Minh.

“For instance, we plan to install telephone and camera both inside and outside the driver’s cabin to monitor a train’s journey. GPS positioning systems will also be installed on all locomotives to control the locomotive’s operation and all level crossings. These devices will help train drivers monitor the safety while approaching crossings,” he said.

“However, these solutions take time to see real results,” Minh added. — VNS