People leave Hanoi, HCMC in droves ahead of long holiday

In Ho Chi Minh City, cars and motorbikes inch up beneath the flyover on Truong Son Street towards the domestic terminal of Tan Son Nhat Airport.

Congestions were also seen on other streets leading to the airport such as Bach Dang, Cong Hoa and Hoang Van Thu.

An ambulance is stuck in traffic on Bach Dang Street, a main route between Thu Duc City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai Provinces and the airport.

Tan Son Nhat Airport is crowded on Friday afternoon.

The airport is scheduled to serve 126,000 passengers on 500 domestic flights and 261 international flights on Friday.

Passengers coming through the airport during the five-day holiday are expected to increase 33% from last year to nearly 760,000.

Mien Tay Bus Station, where people travel from HCMC to Mekong Delta provinces, is crowded at 4 p.m. Friday.

The station is expected to serve 55,000 passengers on Friday, twice more than the same period last year, and the number is set to increase to around 58,000 on Saturday.

Most of them are migrant workers coming back to their hometown.

Buses and cars line up outside the station in Binh Tan District at 5:20 p.m.

Thousands of people leave the city on motorbikes on National Highlway 1A.

A girl sleeps in her mother's arms on the ride home.

In Hanoi, a three-km tailback can be seen on Ring Road 3 at 4 p.m.

Nguyen Thanh Tung (C), his wife and two children walk into Nuoc Ngam bus station to take a bus to their hometown in the central province of Nghe An.

People line up to buy tickets at Nuoc Ngam station. Many came more than one hour before the station started selling tickets.

Vietnamese people will take a five-day holiday that includes the Hung King's Death Commemoration Day, the Reunification Day and Labor Day.