Boulders falling from the mountain struck the Khanh Le mountain pass between tourist cities Nha Trang and Da Lat, burying part of a passenger bus and killing six people.
The incident happened late Sunday night. The Phuong Trang 34-seat bus, registered in Ho Chi Minh City, was carrying 32 people, including three drivers and attendants, along the Khanh Le Pass on the Da Lat–Nha Trang route, continuing onward to Quang Ngai. When it reached Nam Khanh Vinh Commune, a landslide occurred, with soil and rocks cascading down and burying the bus.
The front of the bus, including the cabin area, was hit by earth, rocks and trees, tearing it apart.
The body of the bus was also deformed, with shattered windows, twisted metal framing and crushed sleeper berths.
During the night, emergency forces reached the scene and extracted victims from the bus.
Le Tran Anh Thi, director of the provincial 115 Emergency Center, said rescue teams provided first aid and transported 19 injured passengers to Khanh Hoa General Hospital. Of the six fatalities, four were taken to hospitals in Khanh Vinh, Dien Khanh and Khanh Hoa.
Earth, rocks and trees combined with rain to create a long, slippery scar of landslide debris across National Highway 27C - Khanh Le Pass, cutting off traffic. Authorities are mobilizing heavy equipment to reopen the road.
By 11 a.m., rescue teams had brought the body of the missing victim out of the site on a stretcher to transfer to a hospital.
Nguyen Thanh Ha, vice chairman of Khanh Hoa Province, said that by midday, the final victim had been found. Rescue and clearance work remains extremely difficult due to heavy rain and unstable weather conditions.
Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Xuan Chien, deputy head of the Fire and Rescue Police Division of Khanh Hoa Province, said that after many hours of effort, rescue teams had recovered the final victim from the buried bus on Khanh Le Pass.
A massive boulder crushed the guardrail along the pass.
The current landslide location is near the area where thousands of cubic meters of rock fell last year, blocking the pass for many days.
Several rescue vehicles are waiting for the road to be cleared so they can reach the scene.
On Sunday, the Khanh Hoa Hydro-Meteorological Station reported that from Nov. 16 to 18, the province would see moderate to very heavy rain totaling 80–150 mm; mountainous areas 100–200 mm, with some places over 250 mm. The station warned of the possibility of extreme rainfall events, exceeding 80 mm in three hours, and a very high risk of landslides.
Emergency forces worked through the night to rescue those trapped inside the bus. Video by Tuan Viet, Bui Toan
