No sleeper buses allowed on steep mountain passes

At a meeting on drafting legal documents of the Ministry of Transport on the morning of September 3, Minister Dinh La Thang said that it is necessary to stipulate that sleeper buses are not allowed to travel on steep mountain passes or winding mountain roads.

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang chaired a meeting to draft legal documents of the Ministry on September 3. Photo: giaothongvantai.com.vn

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Linh, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Transport, said that the above passenger bus is only allowed to go from My Dinh Station to Lao Cai City and vice versa. However, this bus has "illegally" gone to Sa Pa.

“If we detect vehicles driving in the wrong lane, we will impose heavy fines and even revoke their business licenses. It’s just that we can’t detect them so we don’t fine them,” said Mr. Nguyen Trong Hai, Director of Lao Cai Department of Transport.

Mr. Hai said that after the above incident, Lao Cai Department of Transport will coordinate with the police force to strengthen the inspection and supervision of routes.

Listening to opinions at the meeting, Minister Dinh La Thang said that sleeper buses are inherently very easy to tip over, so they must be regulated very strictly.

"The problem is that the technical standards cannot take that road. Even my small car is afraid to go, let alone such a big vehicle," said Mr. Thang.

In addition, the head of the Ministry of Transport requested the General Department of Roads to review all guardrails on National Highway 4D, Sa Pa-Lao Cai section, when observations at the scene showed that the iron guardrails were quite weak and low.

"We must test the load of guardrails on dangerous steep passes. The guardrails on the road show that the construction unit is only intentionally spending money and not caring about people's lives," Minister Dinh La Thang suggested.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho said that the Ministry has inspected 650 out of 4,500 sleeper buses in circulation.

"The key is to separate the routes and clearly stipulate that the maximum weight of goods accompanying people is 20kg. Passenger cars are not allowed to carry additional goods under the chassis because carrying goods will shift the center of gravity of the vehicle, causing the vehicle to overturn," said Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho.

Criminal prosecution will be initiated in the accident case in Lao Cai

The Lao Cai Provincial Police Department said it will initiate a criminal case to investigate and clarify the responsibilities of those involved in the tragic accident that occurred in Lao Cai on September 1...

The wrecked vehicle is being pulled out of the abyss. Photo: VOV

According to VnMedia, the authorities have extracted data from the black box, a vehicle monitoring device. Through the vehicle monitoring signal, the bus was traveling at 38km/h before the accident.

According to the initial investigation, the cause of the accident was due to the rainy weather in the area for many days, the road was slippery, the driver was not familiar with the road, so when he encountered a 4-seat car going up to Sapa, it encroached on the bus's curve, causing the bus driver to be startled and turn to the right (negative slope) to avoid it, but because the road was narrow, the car plunged straight into the abyss.

This morning (September 3), Sao Viet Company, the owner of the crashed passenger bus, organized a tow to remove the crashed bus from the scene for authorities to examine and inspect.

From early morning, functional forces including: Traffic Inspectors, Traffic Police, Provincial Police Investigation Police... were present to maintain traffic to ensure the safe and smooth towing of the vehicle, and at the same time organize the examination of the damaged vehicle.

Manh Cuong Company Limited - the unit that carried out the towing of the crashed vehicle - had to arrange 12 workers to work on site and use a 50-ton crane to tow the vehicle.

After towing the crashed vehicle onto the road, the authorities will bring it to Lao Cai Provincial Police to serve the investigation and clarify the cause of the accident.

16 victims are receiving intensive treatment.

According to VOV, as of the morning of September 3, there were still 16 victims of the car crash being treated at Lao Cai General Hospital. Of the 8 seriously injured victims, 2 are at high risk of death.

For the victim whose right eye was pierced by a tree branch into his skull, doctors performed surgery to remove the foreign object from his skull. By 11am, the victim's vital signs were stable, but he still had to be sedated and put on a deep ventilator to help him recover. The victim's health condition was complicated, with damage to his pituitary gland.

The seriously injured victim with multiple injuries underwent surgery to reduce skull pressure.

Six other seriously injured victims are temporarily stable.

Doctor Hoang Van Hieu - Deputy Director of Lao Cai Provincial General Hospital said: "The victims are in the two departments of Trauma Surgery and General Surgery, and their lives are basically not in danger. These patients will probably be discharged soon. Today, doctors from Bach Mai Hospital continue to bring medicine and necessary equipment to help us continue treating the patients."

Over the past two days, Lao Cai General Hospital has mobilized all equipment, vehicles and medical staff to treat the victims of the car accident. Currently, there is still a doctor from Bach Mai Hospital and a doctor from Viet Duc Hospital supporting treatment at the hospital.

According to chinhphu.vn