Buses collide head-on in south-central Vietnam, killing 11

USPA News - Eleven people were killed Friday and nearly 50 others were injured when a speeding passenger bus slammed head-on into another bus on a highway in south-central Vietnam, a local police official said. Many of the victims were seriously injured.

The accident occurred early Friday, shortly after 12:30 a.m. local time, when the two buses collided head-on on the 1A highway in Cam Ranh, a city located in south-central Khanh Hoa province. Photos and video footage from the scene showed the fronts of both buses were completely crushed and mangled together. An officer from the Khanh Hoa Provincial Police Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, said emergency crews were forced to cut open parts of the wrecked vehicles in order to reach some of the trapped passengers. The officer said nine people, including both bus drivers, died at the scene of the accident while two more died while being transported to a local hospital. At least 49 passengers were injured, including around 24 people who were said to be in a serious condition, but none were believed to have life-threatening injuries. Investigators believe one of the bus drivers, a 31-year-old man driving from Quang Ngai in Qu?ng Ngãi province, was speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road when the collision happened. The bus driver was killed instantly, along with the other bus driver who was identified as a 42-year-old man driving from Binh Dinh province. Road accidents are common in Vietnam and police figures show the casualty numbers have risen sharply since 2000, although last year was an exception. More than 10,000 people were killed in road accidents in 2012, representing a drop of 17 percent when compared to a year earlier.