Five foreigners in road crash out of danger

The foreigners who had sustained significant injuries including shattered forearm bones, broken cervical vertebrae, broken pelvis and broken ribs are no longer in critical condition, Dr Luong Thuy Hoa, deputy director of the province's Mai Chau District Hospital, said Monday.

The crash left 20 people injured - 15 foreigners and two Vietnamese who were in a bus and three people on the car. The injured were rushed to hospitals in Hoa Binh and Hanoi.

The others, who had sustained minor injuries such as skin abrasions, have received due treatment and medicines.

Hoa said it was the highest number of injured people the hospital has received at the same time, so they had to push employees into service.

The staff faced many challenges including language barriers, because the majority of the patients were foreigners from various countries including France, Italy, Laos, the Philippines, and Ukraine.

The accident happened on National Highway 6 as bus carrying 42 foreigners and two Vietnamese crashed into a seven-seat car and a motorbike before flipping at around 6 p.m.

All three vehicles were damaged and accident debris was scattered across a road area. Police and local residents had to break the bus's windows to rescue the passengers one by one.

Initial investigations indicate that the bus driver had failed to slow down when driving down a slope and turning.