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

The accident occurred at 9:30am on National Highway 4D in Tam Duong district when the concrete mixer truck hit the back of the passenger car carrying 15 people while driving down a pass. Both vehicles were thrown into a stream 10 meters off the road.

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 Chau General Hospital.

After being informed of the accident, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, who is Chairman of the National Committee for Traffic Safety (NCTS), sent his profound sympathy to families of the deceased, and his encouragement to the injured.

He assigned the NCTS’s Vice Chairman Khuat Viet Hung, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho, and leaders of the Ministry of Transport’s units to go to the site to address the accident’s consequences.

Binh also asked Lai Chau province’s 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 Viet Nam dropped in the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

About 11,782 road accidents were reported nationwide in the reviewed period, killing 5,366 people and injuring about 9,200 others.

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

In August alone, there were 1,432 accidents, killing 650 people and wounding 1,094 others, down 10.67%, 1.66% and 15.72%, respectively, against the same period last year.-

(Source: VNA)