At 9:45 p.m. on Feb. 3, a week ahead of the Lunar New Year, Phan Nhat, 34, was driving the bus, whose passengers included 10 children, from Hue City to another Central Highlands province, Dak Lak.
When he reached a bend near a pass in Kon Tum, the vehicle suddenly veered off the road.
At the scene of accident, where the bus crashed past the steel guardrail.
The bus rolled over several times before coming to rest 20 meters below the road.
Several people were injured, three of them seriously, including the driver and two male passengers, Nguyen Duc Tuan, 35, and Ton That Truong Chinh, 53.
Phan Sang, 57, an injured passenger, said: "The bus rolled like a log many times down the cliff."
He said luckily the accident occurred not far from a residential area and people living there rushed to save the passengers.
The front of the bus was crushed and the windows were broken. Debris was scattered everywhere.
A Sinh, 53, who lives nearby, said the road through the commune is winding and has many sharp turns and steep slopes.
"If the driver is not familiar with the route or drives fast, accidents can easily occur."
The police have cordoned off the site of the accident.
According to the Kon Tum Province traffic police, the driver was to blame for the accident though he admittedly tested negative for alcohol and drugs.
The accident site in which a passenger bus veered off a cliff in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum and plunged 20 m into a gorge.
