Dong Nai (VNA) – The investigation police agency of the Dong Nai Department of Public Security on July 21 evening issued a decision to initiate criminal proceedings against and detain a coach driver after his vehicle slammed into highway guardrails in the southern city and caught fire earlier the same day, killing seven passengers and injuring five others.
Tran Thanh Hai, 41, a resident of the central province of Khanh Hoa, was charged for violating road traffic regulations under Article 260 of the Criminal Code.
Hai was driving a sleeper bus carrying 37 passengers en route from Khanh Hoa to Ho Chi Minh City when the incident took place. He set off at around 10pm on July 20.
By about 2am on July 21, as the vehicle was travelling along National Highway 1A through Dong Nai’s Hung Thinh commune, he grew drowsy and swerved to avoid a vehicle ahead of him.
The bus veered off course, clipping one guardrail before slamming into a second. The impact ignited a fire beneath the vehicle. Hai and a bus attendant scrambled to get passengers out, but the flames spread too fast, quickly engulfing the entire bus.
Seven passengers, including three young children, died and five were injured, and the vehicle was burned down to its bare metal frame.
Immediately after the accident, Hai turned himself in to the Hung Thinh commune police and confessed to the entire sequence of events leading to the crash.
The investigation police agency, in coordination with the Dong Nai People's Procuracy, relevant divisions of the municipal Department of Public Security, and the Hung Thinh commune police, conducted a crime scene examination, forensic examinations of the victims, and collected physical evidence and other materials to support the investigation.
Also on July 21, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung sent a dispatch to the Ministers of Public Security and Construction, as well as the chairpersons of the People's Committees of Dong Nai city and Khanh Hoa province, ordering an urgent investigation into the cause of the accident./.
PM orders urgent investigation into fatal coach fire in Dong Nai
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung has ordered an urgent investigation into the cause of a coach fire that killed seven people in the southern city of Dong Nai, while directing authorities to address the aftermath and prevent similar tragedies.
