From bustling city streets to remote mountain roads, Vietnam is reeling from a cluster of fatal accidents that have claimed at least 12 lives in under a week. Kicking off the grim tally was Thursday’s crash in Hue, central Vietnam, where a truck plowed into three e-bikes near a high school. A student and a woman died instantly, while another rider fought for life in hospital.
Dawn brought no relief in Dong Nai, as an electronics shop burst into flames around 5 a.m. The deadly inferno, accelerated by volatile contents, ended with the recovery of a young mother’s and her baby’s bodies. Firefighters pulled one survivor from the debris.
Up north in foggy, rainy Son La on January 17, a bus loaded with 18 souls—including drivers and aides—careened into a culvert and overturned, killing four. Weather was the culprit, as driver impairment tests proved clean.
Highway horrors capped the week on January 14 along the Thang Hoa-Hanoi route, where tractor-trailers tangled with a passenger van, leaving four dead, six injured, and vehicles mangled. These back-to-back disasters spotlight Vietnam’s pressing road safety crisis, urging comprehensive reforms from Hanoi to prevent further loss.