Alert villagers prevent train wreck in Vietnam

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 22, 2007 Monday 8:56 AM EST
LENGTH: 220 words
HEADLINE: Alert villagers prevent train wreck in Vietnam
DATELINE: Hanoi

DPA x Vietnam Accidents Alert villagers prevent train wreck in Vietnam Hanoi A train disaster was narrowly averted after villagers warned the conductor of a passenger train of an overturned vehicle on the tracks in northern Vietnam, police said Monday.

Minutes before a train carrying more than 1,000 passengers wasscheduled to pass through Hau Loc district in Thanh Hoa province, a13-ton truck flipped over onto the railway tracks.

The driver of the truck ran off but two villagers living near thetracks realized that the Saturday night Hanoi-to-Ho Chi Minh Citytrain was due soon and they were determined to warn the conductor.

"Nguyen Van Dan and Nguyen Van Tinh used the spotlights on theside of the truck to signal the driver of the train," said Tran HongPhong, chief traffic policeman of Hau Loc district. "The driver sawthe lights and stopped the train so suddenly that many passengersfell to the floor, but no one was seriously injured."

Phong said many passengers would have died if the train hadstruck the overturned vehicle.
Vietnam's main rail line runs north to south between Hanoi and HoChi Minh City. The 1,726-kilometre track was built more than 100years ago and is urgently in need of replacement. It currently takesmore than 30 hours to make the journey between the two cities. Jan 2207 0856 GMT