Ho Chi Minh City to close river tunnel for 2-hour fire drill

By Nhat Vy   November 4, 2016 | 07:57 pm PT
Ho Chi Minh City to close river tunnel for 2-hour fire drill
A fire drill in the Saigon River Tunnel on Thursday. Photo by VnExpress
The Saigon River Tunnel will be closed to all vehicles for two hours from 9 p.m. on Saturday.

Ho Chi Minh City will close the Saigon River Tunnel that connects districts 1 and 2 for a two-hour fire fighting and rescue drill on Saturday night.

The city’s transport department said all vehicles will be banned between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. They can take a detour via the Thu Thiem Bridge, around two kilometers from the tunnel.

HCMC also closed one side of the tunnel for one hour on Thursday night for a similar drill, which involved hundreds of people.

The tunnel, which lies 27 meters under the Saigon River at the deepest point, opened to traffic in 2011 when it was first known as the Thu Thiem Tunnel. It is the longest in Southeast Asia and the first in Vietnam.

A deadly crash occurred in April when a truck hit a group of cleaning workers inside the tunnel, killing one of them and injuring four.

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