Traffic police in Hanoi said on Thursday they have caught an overcrowded passenger bus that carried holidaymakers from the north-central province of Thanh Hoa back to the Vietnamese capital after a five-day holiday.

As many as 104 passengers had been crammed into the 45-seater bus, police said after pulling over the vehicle for check on Giai Phong Street in Hanoi’s Hoang Mai District on Wednesday, the end of the long break that began on April 30.

The long-haul bus, running between Thanh Hoa and Hanoi, was also found to have dropped off passengers at the wrong location, according to officers.

Police said they managed to catch the overcrowded bus thanks to a tip-off made through a hotline for reports of traffic safety violations.

Another tip-off from members of the public on Wednesday also led police to catch a 29-seater passenger bus carrying 38 passengers as it was heading to Hanoi from the northern province of Thai Binh.

Vietnam entered a five-day holiday marking Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers’ Day (May 1).

Traffic police said they had pulled over many buses carrying passengers exceeding their seats during the first days of the five-day break, as people were rushing back to their hometowns for celebrations. The situation reoccurred as people returned to big cities when the holiday ended on Wednesday.

During the five-day holiday, 137 traffic accidents occurred across the country, killing 96 people and injured another 96, according to Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee.

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