Car driver detained for causing deadly accident in central Vietnam

The driver of a 7-seater car was arrested on Sunday afternoon, several hours after he allegedly caused a serious accident on the Cam Lo-La Son Expressway in Thua Thien-Hue province that killed a woman and her two children.

Legal proceedings have been launched against 55-year-old driver Phan Dinh Kieu, said Colonel Nguyen Dinh Thua, deputy director of the provincial police.

According to Thua, at about 10 a.m. on Sunday, Kieu, residing in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, was driving the 7-seater car carrying Phan Dinh Quy, his wife Le Thi Hanh and two children Phan Le Khanh Van, 15, and Phan Dinh Quang, 9, on the Cam Lo-La Son Expressway in the south-north direction.

When entering a section where vehicles are not allowed to overtake in Phong Thu commune, Phong Dien district, Kieu's car suddenly swerved right and collided with a container truck running in front.

The collision caused the 7-seater car to flip into the opposite lane where it was hit by a truck traveling north-south. The 7-seater car then flew over the 80-centimeter-high guardrail and fell to the side of the road. At the same time, a container truck from Ho Chi Minh City running north-south smashed head on into the truck.

Nine-year-old Quang died on the spot. Hanh and her daughter Van died on the way to hospital.

The 98.3-kilometer Cam Lo-La Son Expressway, connecting Thua Thien-Hue province with its neighbour Quang Tri was inaugurated on December 31, 2022. It is one of the five expressways across the country with two lanes. The road is expected to be expanded to four lanes after 2030.

A number of accidents have happened on the expressway since it opened. Most recently, on December 18, 2023, two container trucks collided and caught fire along the section passing through Thua Thien-Hue’s Huong Tra township, killing a driver on the spot and seriously injuring two others.