Three passengers died and 35 others were injured when the bus carrying them from Hanoi to northern Quang Tri Province for a requiem for fallen soldiers rolled down a slope in Nghe An Province this morning. The bus is among a group of 15 buses each of which carried 45 passengers who are Buddhists from Hanoi to Quang Tri for a requiem for fallen combatants. The deadly accident occurred at 4:30 am when the bus suddenly turned over at the top of the 1,500-meter long Truong Ven slope and then rolled down to the feet of the slope, which lies between Quynh Luu and Dien Chau districts. The accident killed two passengers on the spot and injured 35 others. Both dead victims had not brought personal papers with them, but one of them was identified simply as Thanh, of Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. The two dead bodies were taken to Hanoi while the injured were brought to the Nghe An 115 Hospital, but one of them, Le Thi Minh, a 58-year-old woman of Hanoi’s Dong Da District, died on the way. The driver of the capsized bus is Mai Truong Giang, 38, of Long Bien District, Hanoi. The director of Nghe An Province Transport Department, Nguyen Hong Ky, has visited the injured victims at the hospital and given each of them VND500,000 (US$24). Ky has also given VND1 million to every family of the three dead victims as initial support. Local police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Injured passengers are being treated at the Nghe An 115 Hospital in Vinh City (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Nghe An Province Transport Department director Nguyen Hong Ky (in striped shirt) visits the injured victims