Three Vietnamese passengers died and 33 others were injured when theirtourist bus fell off a mountain pass into the valley in Laos'Bolikhamsay province last weekend, according to Tuoi tre (Youth) online.
The three elderly travellers died on the scene, includingNguyen Huu Chu, 72, and Phung Thi Xuan Oanh, 69, from Hanoi , andNguyen Hong Kiem, 74, from Quang Ninh province.
Of the 33 injuredwho were taken to central Nghe An province’s General Hospital, about120 km from the scene of the accident, nine received slight injuries andwere discharged soon after, while the remaining victims remained inhospital for treatment, said Dr. Nguyen Danh Linh, director of thehospital.
The hospital sent four ambulances to the scene afterreceiving reports on the accident, said Pham Van Long, deputy directorof the hospital.
Most of the tourists are from northern mountainous Son La province and Hanoi , according to initial sources.
Accordingto Major Tran Duc Ha, head of the Border Guard Station at the Cau TreoBorder Gate in central Ha Tinh province, said the bus bore a Lao numberplate but was driven by a Vietnamese man.
The vehicle left Vinhcity at 7 am on April 20 and travelled through the border gate at 11 amthe same day, heading for the Lao capital of Vientiane .
Whencrossing a mountain pass in Bolikhamsay province’s Kam Kot district, it crashedinto the handrail of a small bridge and fell off the pass into thevalley at about 2 pm.
Lao police are investigating the cause of the accident.-VNA