Two Laotians die as Vietnamese truck with hidden firecrackers explodes

Two Laotians were killed and many were injured as a Vietnamese truck carrying smuggled firecrackers and fireworks exploded.

Two Laotians were killed and many were injured as a Vietnamese truck carrying smuggled firecrackers and fireworks exploded.

  

The scene of the accident.

Colonel Hoang Huu Thien, head of the Lao Bao Border Gate's Border Guard Station said on December 3 that they worked with Lao authorities to control the fire. The explosion occurred at 8.20 am at Densavan Border Gate, Karol District of Laos, 500m away from Lao Bao Border Gate, Quang Tri Province.

Lao authorities at Densavan Border Gate were inspecting a rock-gypsum truck returning from Laos to Vietnam when the explosion occurred. When the authorities used a crowbar to poke under the truck to check, they hit the firecrackers and fireworks hidden inside. The truck exploded and the fire continued to spread to the border gate's warehouse.

  

The truck exploded and killed two people.

Two Lao people died and four others were injured. The truck driver and three other people on the truck, who are all Vietnamese, were also injured in the explosion.

"The Quang Tri Border-Guard Command directed the border guards at Lao Bao Border Gate and the firefighters to help with the explosion and take injured people in Laos to hospital," Thien said.

The fire was put under control at 11 am. The case is under investigation.