A bus killed one and sent eight more to the hospital when it spun out and ran through a crowd of people on a road in Da Nang that has seen 9 deaths and 40 injuries in only two years.

The accident happened at 2 a.m. as the bus traveled south on National Way 14B to the Hai Van Tunnel in Hoa Vang District.

The bus was traveling at high speeds and the driver lost control due to a wet and muddy road, said Da Nang traffic police.

Witnesses said heavy rain before the accidents had made the road slippery, Tuoi Tre reported.

The vehicle spun out and turned over, sliding on its side into a crowd of around 30 people who were waiting on the roadside after their bus has overturned on the slick road an hour earlier, investigators said.

Vu Anh Hung, 41, died on the spot, and another three were critically injured, said police.

Five were immediately rushed to a local hospital.

Around 10 minutes later a Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Company truck also lost control and turned over as it approached the accident site. No casualties were reported from that accident.

Death trap

Phan Van Thuoc, head of Da Nang’s environmental police, blamed the accidents on mud and soil that had been scattered across the road, according to Tuoi Tre.

Preliminary investigation showed that the mud and soil had spilled from Phuoc Vu Company trucks transporting soil from a mining site around 500 meters from the accident site, local newspaper Vietnam News reported on Wednesday.

Local residents said the company had been sending trucks to and from the site since Monday afternoon.

After the accident, Phuoc Vu workers fled the scene, leaving three shovel trucks behind which were then confiscated by local agencies.

Hoa Vang District’s Division of Natural Resources and Environment said Phuoc Vu had not been licensed to exploit soil at the site, which belonged to Viet Hoa Joint-stock company.

Road Transport Inspection Agency No.III-01 under the Vietnam of Road Administration said they had previously proposed that the local transport agency stop soil exploitation there, though action had yet to be taken, Vietnam News reported.

Many accidents have occurred near the site since the road opened two years ago, said local authorities. Nine have died at the spot and more than 40 people have been injured, said Nguyen Den, head of the Da Nang Traffic Police. He said most accidents had taken place at night in areas police had deemed “dangerous.”

According to Den, the traffic police had asked the Ministry of Transport set up signboards limiting speeds in the area and had also asked for more lights on the road, but again no action had been taken.

Reported by Huu Tra – Phuong Thao