Vietnam highway turned into scrapyard after billowing smoke causes mayhem

By Staff reporters   April 4, 2018 | 12:49 am PT
Four people were injured in the pile-up involving 10 vehicles outside Saigon.
This passenger car of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City looks like this after it plowed into an auto ahead. The thick smoke was rising straight up before it suddenly changed direction and billowed into the highway and darkened my vision. Another vehicle also hit the back of the car and passengers were screaming in panic, its driver said.

This minibus of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City looks like it has been plowed straight into. It was one of 10 vehicles caught in a massive collision on the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway on Tuesday afternoon as smoke from field burning along the road reduced drivers' visability. “The thick smoke was rising and billowed onto the highway and I couldn't see. Another vehicle ran into the back of my car, and its passengers were screaming in panic,” the driver said.

Two passengers sitting next to the driver were stuck on the car that was traveling from HCMC to the beach town of Vung Tau. The crash injured four people in total.

Two passengers got stuck on the bus, which was going from HCMC to the beach town of Vung Tau. The incident injured four people.

The domino crash on the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh Expressway took place at around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and broke nine other autos, including these two.

The pile-up took place at around 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday on the road part in Dong Nai Province outside HCMC.

Local burns grass on their fields outside the expressway in early Tuesday  afternoon and then strong wind blew the thick smoke to the highway,  causing drivers to lose sight.

The smoke is said to come from locals burning fields near the expressway on early Tuesday afternoon.

A Range Rover SUV. Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong, deputy director of Vietnam Expressway Services Engineering Joint Stock Company (VECE), said the management board of the highway saw a fire from the fields of local spreading to the grass along the highway through smart street cameras but when the water spray truck arrives the accident had already happened.

A Range Rover SUV is badly damaged. Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong, deputy director of Vietnam Expressway Services Engineering Joint Stock Company, said the highway management board saw a fire from the fields spreading to the grass along the highway on street cameras, but it was too late for fire services to prevent the accident.

Debris scatter around the highway.

Debris scattered on the highway.

A truck hits a sleeping coach.

A truck hit the back of a sleeper coach.

The accident left a group of tourists, including many foreigners who were traveling from HCMC to the beach town of Phan Thiet, stranded by the road.

The accident left a group of tourists stranded by the roadside.

I was sleeping and a sound of car crash woke me up. I opened my eyes to all smoke and smoke and it was hard to breathe, said Duong, a passenger.

“I was sleeping and the crash woke me up. I saw smoke everywhere and it was hard to breathe,” said Duong, a passenger.

A long tailback quickly appears on the highway right after the accident. District authorities in Dong Nai Province where the accident took place have issued documents telling locals to pay more attention to and be more careful with their field burning.

Traffic backs up after the accident. District authorities in Dong Nai have advised locals to be more careful when burning their fields.

 
 
go to top