Fifty-eight people died and 58 others were injured in traffic accidents nationwide during the 3-day holiday break.

The accident scene where the north-to-south SE3 train struck an excavating shovel after it departed from Ngan Son train station in Quang Binh Province on Sunday morning. — Photo dantri.com.vn

Seventy-four road accidents took place nationwide during the National Day holiday from last Saturday to Monday, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS)’s Traffic Police General Department.

Of those, 25 occurred on Monday, killing 22 and injuring 16.

Police nationwide handled about 9,200 road safety violations in the past 3 days, confiscating about 6.4 billion VND (US$281,600) of fines and 667 driving licenses, and seizing 65 cars and 997 motorbikes.

The hotline number of the National Traffic Safety Committee received about 131 phone calls and text messages on transport violations.  Most of them were about heavy vehicles carrying more passengers than allowed, increasing fare prices, and causing traffic congestion on routes leading to tourism sites and on national routes in Ha Noi and HCM City.

The 2 most serious accidents took place in the northern Vinh Phuc Province last Saturday, and Quang Binh Province last Sunday.

Two coach buses, one with 16 seats and another with 29 seats, collided at about 12:40 am last Saturday while travelling in the same direction on the stretch of the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway running through Vinh Phuc Province’s Binh Xuyen District.

As the result of the impact, the 16-seat coach bus then struck a 45-seat coach bus that was traveling in the same direction.  Eleven passengers were injured, with 4 of them being hospitalised.

Last Sunday morning, a north-to-south train hit a large excavating shovel that was crossing the railway some 2km from the Ngan Son train station in central Quang Binh Province’s Bo Trach District.

The accident injured the shovel’s driver, the train driver and his assistant, destroying the shovel and damaging the first two cars of the train.  All 90 train passengers aboard the train were reported to have been unharmed.

(Source: VNS)