Vietnam urges Laos to probe death of two workers

Two Vietnamese citizens were killed and five others seriously injured when the coach carrying them collided with a truck in central Laos late last week, Vietnam's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The accident happened at 8.45 p.m. on June 21 when the coach carrying over 23 Vietnamese workers crashed into the truck moving in the same direction.

The car was traveling from Muong Phin District to a bus station in Seno, a town in the province of Savanakhet, just 150 kilometers from the central Vietnamese province of Thua Thien-Hue.

The two deceased persons have been identified as Pham Van Binh, 31, and Nguyen Van Tho, 24, both natives of central province of Nghe An.

The Consulate General of Vietnam in Laos has sent its staff to the hospital to visit the injured victims and cooperate with authorities in Laos to transport the patients to the Hue central hospital for further treatment.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has urged authorities in Laos to push up the investigation of the fatal accident to ensure the legitimate rights of Vietnamese citizens.

Laos has a high rate of road accidents compared to other countries in the region, with a total of 212 people confirmed dead in road accidents in the first two months of 2018. Many of the crashes have been attributed to speeding and drunk driving, the Vientiane Times reported.