A collision between a bus and a truck claimed the lives of eight passengers on Monday in Thapabath District, Bolikhamxay Province.
Vientiane Rescue 1623 reports that 8 passengers were killed and over 20 of them from both vehicles were injured, including a group of foreign nationals comprised of two British, two South African, and one Swedish citizen.
The bus was traveling from the southern Lao province when it collided with a truck from Vientiane Capital on Route 13 South, 64 kilometers from Vientiane.
Accoding to Vientiane Rescue, about 42 volunteers and 9 ambulances, including the first responders, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, and hydraulic rescue specialists were dispatched to the accident scene.
Two passengers in the truck and six passengers in the bus, including the drivers of two vehicles, were stuck and passed away due to serious injuries.
“We had to move the truck to retrieve its driver and a woman who sat alongside him as well as cut open both the bus and the truck for hours to retrieve other injured victims. Unfortunately, our equipment was not sufficient to execute this enormous task quickly,” says Sebastien Perret, Co-Founder of Vientiane Rescue.
Passengers who received injuries were transported to Friendship and Setthathirath hospitals in Vientiane Capital.
The speedometer of the bus was collected by the rescue team at 65 kilometers per hour with no suspicion of overspeeding.
Police are still investigating the cause of the accident and the damages inflicted by the same.
