[Photos] Deadly Train Accident Rocks Vietnam’s North-South Railway

Last night, a deadly accident occurred on Vietnam’s North-South railway when a SE5 train collided with a truck in Quang Tri Province.

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The crash, which occurred at about 9:40pm, resulted in a smashed locomotive, the derailment of three train cars, and the death of the train’s motorman. While VN Express reports that two passengers were seriously injured, VietnamNet puts the figure at “dozens.”

“I heard a loud crash and when the carriage flipped, some passengers had to break the glass windows in order to get everyone out,” said Do Thuy Hang, a railway employee who was injured by the derailment.

Authorities said that they are investigating the accident.

A similar incident occurred last September when a train derailed in the northern province of Nam Dinh when it slammed into an idle truck that had been parked on an illegal road that crossed the tracks.

Nguyen Van Doanh, deputy head of the Railway Authority at the Ministry of Transport, said that the illegal road was one of 4,500 that crisscross Vietnam’s train tracks that account for the majority of railway accidents in the country.

Hopefully, Vietnam’s recently announced master plan for upgrading the country’s aging rail system would help to avoid similar occurrences in the future.