A passenger bus lost control of its brake, crashing into a road worker and having a head-on collision with another bus, on its way down a mountain pass near the famous resort town of Da Lat in Vietnam’s Central Highlands on Sunday.

Seven people, including the road worker and one child, were confirmed dead, while a person suffered brain death. An initial report said eight victims were killed.

Thirty-three other passengers were hospitalized, with 18 in critical conditions due to brain injuries.

At 11:15 am, a 42-seater passenger bus operated by travel firm Le My was traveling from Da Lat downward the Prenn Mountain Pass when the driver lost control of the vehicle.

The Prenn Mountain Pass is some 3km from the center of Da Lat, the capital of Lam Dong Province.

The Le My vehicle then crashed into the road worker and continued hitting a 32-seater passenger bus of travel company Thanh Lich, which was heading Da Lat, to its head.

The accident occurred on the part of the mountain pass that is being repaired, with the road narrowed by a third compared to normal width.

As the Le My bus was carrying no passengers at the time of accident, only its driver was killed. Besides the road worker, all of the five deceased passengers were of the Thanh Lich bus. Three of them are female teachers of a school in the south-central city of Phan Thiet, who were heading for Da Lat for a summer holiday.

On Sunday afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, who leads the National Committee for Traffic Safety, requested the transport ministry and Lam Dong administration to identify the cause of accident.

The Lam Dong administration has given the family of each deceased victim cash support worth VND10 million, those injured are given VND3 million each.

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