SINGAPORE: Twenty students from Singapore Management University (SMU) were injured in a bus accident in Vietnam last Saturday (May 11).

The students were part of a group of 30 who went to the city of Hue for an overseas community service project. They had completed the project and were on a trip to Bach Ma National Park when the accident happened.



“On May 11 afternoon, one of the two buses which was ferrying the group hit a road kerb, and the impact jerked the 20 student passengers in the bus off their seats,” SMU said in a media statement on Monday.

"The injuries sustained by the 20 affected students range from bruises and abrasions, to more seriously, a wrist fracture, a leg fracture and a neck injury."

The injured students are being treated at International Hospital Hue Central, said SMU.



It added that the two students with a leg and neck injury will return to Singapore in an air ambulance once local doctors certify that they are fit to travel. Both are in stable condition and fully conscious, said the university.



According to Vietnam newspaper VnExpress, the bus was headed downhill when it crashed about 1km from the national park's entrance. A photograph shows the bus on a kerb. The front part of the vehicle had crashed into some vegetation.

Two Vietnamese - the driver and the tour guide - were also injured, said the report.

Three students who were not injured have returned to Singapore on Sunday evening, said SMU, adding that others have decided to extend their stay in Vietnam to support their peers who are injured.

"SMU staff members in Vietnam are also in touch with the Embassy of Singapore in Vietnam, who had despatched two Embassy officers to Hue to liaise with the local authorities and render consular assistance to the injured Singaporeans," said the statement.

“We will continue to stay in regular contact with our students to monitor their situation. Their safety remains the University’s top priority, and we will provide the best possible assistance to them accordingly."