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Kon Tum searches for accident-prone pass solutions
  • | danviet, dtinews.vn | June 18, 2018 02:19 PM
Kon Tum Province 25km-long Lo Xo Pass is notorious for traffic accidents.

   

An accident in Lo Xo Pass in 2017

On June 16, three people were killed and 18 others injured when a passenger bus plunged off a cliff. In March, another passenger bus went off the cliff and killed one driver. In 2015, a truck going from Kon Tum to Danang suddenly overturned, killing two people. A passenger bus also fell off the cliff in the same year. One person was killed and 40 others were injured.

The most deadly accident occurred in 2005 when a bus carrying 31 veterans fell off the cliff. 30 veterans, a driver and two assistants were killed in the accident.

Captain Vu Hong Doan from the traffic police at Ngoc Hoi Commune said, "Lo Xo Pass is a dangerous place because it's a long and winding slope. There is always at least one police team stationed on the pass to issue warnings and carry out search and rescue operations. Reflective railings and sign boards have been put up along the pass to give more light since accidents often occur at night."

Colonel Le Dinh Toan, head of the traffic police department in Kon Tum said that since the pass was so long, many drivers couldn’t feel the slope and became careless. Traffic Police Department recently proposed to the Ministry of Transport to reinforce the railings and build a bypass but the project hasn't been realised.

A Chai, party secretary of Dak Man Commune, said, "More than 40 accidents have been reported. The scenes of those accidents are very haunting. In the latest accident on June 16, we had to piggyback each passenger up. It took us an hour to rescue all of the passengers."

Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Khuat Viet Hung said, "After the accident on June 16, I and a team from the Ministry of Transport was asked to visit the victims and work with the provincial authorities to improve the safety of the area."

According to Hung, the Directorate for Roads Of Vietnam has upgraded the pass with better road surface and railings since last year. In March, the Ministry of Transport was asked to find solutions to upgrade the railings in Lo Xo Pass as well as other dangerous locations.

Nguyen Xuan Huong, chief of the Traffic Safety Board in Kon Tum, said they had already installed spherical mirrors, put up warning signs, reinforced the railings and road surface. He said the causes of the accident might be because of poor vision since the accidents often occurred at night.

"We have asked the Ministry of Transport and Directorate for Roads Of Vietnam for funds to expand the pass or build more bypasses. But it will need more funding and time," he said.

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