Seven, including the driver, were killed and 22 others injured after a 30-seat bus crashed into a mountain in the central province of Khanh Hoa on Friday.
The death toll from the accident has jumped to seven as doctors have just confirmed the death of the bus driver Nguyen Hai, 46 who had been admitted to a hospital with a broken leg. Children are among the casualties, a source said.
According to Tuoi Tre’s on-the-scene-reporters, the accident occurred at 9:45am in Son Thai commune, Khanh Vinh district as the bus carrying teachers of a primary school in Da Nang crashed violently into a mountain side.
The teachers of Hoa Phuoc 2 primary school departed from Da Nang on June 4 and arrived in Nha Trang a day later for a vacation. They had the deadly accident while leaving Nha Trang for Da Lat on June 7 morning.
After pulling the vehicle out of the rocks, rescuers found five bodies inside. Another passenger died at the hospital due to serious injuries.
22 passengers have been rushed to Khanh Hoa general hospital for emergency care and they are reportedly in critical conditions.
40-year-old survivor Nguyen Thi Nguyet told Tuoi Tre the bus was carrying 22 teachers and 6 relatives.
She added that before the accident, the driver had likely lost control as he tried to swerve through several bends to avoid obstacles ahead at high speed.
“Before the bus crashed into the mountain, a tour guide said ‘Calm down and open the door’ [he meant to ask passengers to jump out of the vehicle] but no one dared do that since one side is mountain and the other is a deep abyss,” Tran Thi Anh Tuyet, the other survivor, recalled.
The head section of the bus is severely deformed while its seats, doors, and windows are badly damaged.
Khanh Hoa’s deputy police chief Nguyen Duc Quynh is at the scene to direct rescue efforts.