A French woman and a Spanish man were killed in a road accident in Ha Giang Province on Monday.
The accident happened at around 4:30 p.m. when a truck trailer traveling on National Highway 2 from Ha Giang to Tuyen Quang collided with a motorbike driven by the two foreigners in the opposite direction.
The accident took place at a T-junction in Vi Xuyen District, around eight kilometers from downtown Ha Giang, local authorities said Tuesday.
The tourists suffered serious injuries and were taken to a local hospital. Pena Laigesia Alvaro, 30, died on the way to hospital while the woman, Moreaux Ophelie, 32, succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.
The truck driver has been identified as 46-year-old Pham Van Nhuan but no information has been released about his state of health, local media reported.
“The bodies of the victims are being kept at the provincial hospital. We are working with the embassies to notify the next of kin,” said Nguyen Duc Manh, an official with Ha Giang’s Department of Transport.
The accident is being investigated.
Road crashes are a leading cause of deaths in Vietnam, killing almost one person every hour. A total of more than 9,000 traffic accidents occurred in the first half of this year, killing nearly 4,100 people and injuring over 7,000, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.
Ha Giang, a neighbor of the famous Sa Pa and itself known for capivating hills and mountain passes, lies around 240 kilometers (150 miles) to northwest of Hanoi.
In November last year, a Spanish traveler died after driving his motorbike off a cliff in Ha Giang.
Gia Chinh report on Vnexpress