The wife of a Frenchman who was killed in a rear-end collision between a coach and a water truck on Trung Luong Expressway in southern Vietnam on Wednesday passed away the same day after she was admitted to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Seven people, including one Vietnamese driver, died in the accident that also injured eight others.

Nicole Boussiron Loreal, a 60-year-old French woman, could not make it after she was rushed to Cho Ray Hospital with multiple injuries, according to Dr. Pham Van Khiem, deputy head of the emergency department.

The deceased woman’s husband, Jean-Jacques Loreal, 64, died at the scene of the fatal accident that completely destroyed the cabin of a passenger coach operated by Thao Chau Transport Ltd. Company.

The 30-seat vehicle carrying at least 15 people was heading to HCMC from the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre when it rear-ended a water tanker driven by Bui Trung Duong, 30, when the latter was watering trees along the road.

Duong was intact but the coach driver Tran Thanh Phong, 35, was killed on the spot.

The crash occurred about 9:20 am on a section of Trung Luong Expressway that runs through Chau Thanh District in Tien Giang Province.

The French couple had visited and stayed in Ben Tre for a few days before leaving for the southern city, where they would board a plane to return home.

“Before leaving, they said they would visit me on their next visit to Vietnam,” the owner of their guesthouse in Ben Tre told Tuoi Tre. “But all of a sudden, they ended up in such a tragic accident.”

Death toll rises to 7

Pham Thi Phuong Thao, one of the survivors, said she was watching a movie from the in-car TV set when she heard a loud noise and became unconscious as the coach crashed into the water truck.

When she woke up, Thao and other passengers were stuck in the vehicle. “I heard people say that the driver and two passengers were killed,” she recalled.

“The passengers were a Frenchman and a child sitting near the driver.”

Five injured victims were immediately taken to a hospital but two died en route to Cho Ray, according to Dr. Khiem.

Besides the French woman, another unidentified man also died at Cho Ray, sending the death toll to seven, he added.

Initial reports said five people died in the accident.

‘Driver looks drowsy’

Vo Van Ba, director of Thao Chau Co., said the driver of the coach, Phong, could have failed to notice the water truck as he looked “upset and drowsy” when he began his shift on Wednesday morning.

Ba added that there were 11 passengers aboard when the coach arrived at Thao Chau’s stop in My Tho, the capital city of Tien Giang, in the morning. “The driver might have picked up a few more passengers before the accident,” he said.

Police are investigating to determine whether the water truck was to blame.

Preliminary investigations have shown that the water tanker was moving slowly on the road with all signal lights on.

An official of the management board of Trung Luong – HCMC Expressway said it is legal for a water truck to work on the expressway.

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