Highway, railway traffic paralyzed as truck plunges off mountain pass

The fruit-transporting truck was heading north from Ho Chi Minh City when it crashed into the iron fences at a sharp bend before making a head-on collision with a motorbike traveling southward, according to initial report from police.

Following the crash, the truck and the motorbike both fell off the road into a 11.5-m hole next to the the railroad of the North – South Railway, which connects Hanoi and HCMC. The overturned truck then lied upside down on the railroad tracks.

Three people, including the driver, on the truck were severely injured and had been stuck into the cockpit until they were rescured at around 8am. The two victims on the bike also suffered critical injuries.

All of the five were admitted to Phu Yen General Hospital.

Phu Yen police deployed more than 50 officers to rescue the victims and control traffic. With police setting up barricades at both sides of the national highway, thousands of vehicles were sent into a congestion. Those guided into the nearby National Highway No.29 were also put into a gridlock soon after that.

Meanwhile, many trains had to stop at stations from Hao Son in the north to Dai Lanh in the south due to the incident, according to Nguyen Dinh Tan, director of Phu Khanh railway transport company.

At 9:37am, the truck was removed from the railroad tracks by a crane truck, resuming service for the railway. The truck belongs to the HCMC-based COVATO 5 Co.

Phu Yen police also ordered its force and mobilized locals to bring the fruits dropped out from the truck to a safe place in order to prevent looting.

The North–South Railway is the principal railway line in Vietnam. The single-track meter gauge line connects the capital Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, for a total length of 1,726 km.