Kiwi expat in coma after motorbike accident dies

Mark Lockwood had been in a coma for more than a week after fracturing his skull in the accident, which appears to have happened in Nha Trang resort town in central Vietnam, where he was running a bar.

The NZ Herald reported Lockwood’s death, citing his sister Wendy Turner via a Givealittle page, a crowd funding website for New Zealanders.

"After a brave fight, Mark passed away this morning (November 25)," she wrote. "The family are grappling with the loss of a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, cousin and a friend in such tragic circumstances."

The crowdfunding page was created by Turner to support Lockwood, who had neither insurance nor savings to cover his medical costs.

Lockwood is survived by his Vietnamese wife Chi and 3-year-old son Nate in Vietnam, as well as his adult children in New Zealand. The Givealittle page, which has raised over $6,000, would remain open to support them instead, Turner announced.

The New Zealander had lived in Vietnam since 2012 with his Vietnamese wife and son. He set up a bar in Nha Trang last year.

Last month, a French woman and a Spanish man were killed in a road accident in the northern province of Ha Giang when a truck trailer collided with their motorbike.

Road crashes are a leading cause of deaths in Vietnam, killing almost one person every hour. More than 9,000 traffic accidents occurred in the first half of this year, killing nearly 4,100 people and injuring over 7,000, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.