Four killed, 16 injured as truck crashes into motorbikes in Vietnam

Police and curious residents are at the scene where a truck crashed into multiple motorbikes in Long An Province Wednesday. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Nam

At 3.30 p.m. the container truck was traveling on National Highway 1A when its driver lost control and rammed at least 20 motorbikes waiting at the traffic lights at the Binh Nhut crossroads in Ben Luc District, around 60 kilometers southwest of Ho Chi Minh City.

Many of the motorbikes were dragged for over 150 meters before the truck came to a halt. Some were broken in half.

"It was horrifying," an eyewitness said.

Three people died on the spot, one died in hospital while 16 others remained hospitalized.

The truck driver, Pham Thanh Hieu, 32, fled the scene after the accident.

Preliminary investigation indicated that he had tried to speed past the traffic light before it turned red.

Three people died when this truck rammed 20 motorbikes at a traffic signal in Long An Wednesday. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Nam

The police are continuing their investigation.

At 5:15 p.m. traffic was still blocked on the highway.

During the four-day New Year holiday 136 accidents were recorded, in which 111 people died around Vietnam and another 54 were injured, according to the Traffic Police Department.

This was a significant increase in fatalities from last year, when 67 died in three days.

On average, one person dies every hour in road accidents in Vietnam. The country targets reducing road accident deaths to below 20 a day, or 7,300 a year.