This morning, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City organized a rehearsal and training of fire fighting, prevention and rescue at the Saigon River Tunnel linking HCMC’s District 1 and Thu Duc City.
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Fire safety drill is organized at Saigon River tunnel (Photo: SGGP) |
The fire safety drill saw the attendance of Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Ngo Minh Chau, Director of the municipal Public Security Department Major General Le Hong Nam and 1,279 firefighters plus nearly 100 firefighting vehicles.
In a hypothetical situation, at 9 o'clock on the same day, a 30-seat passenger bus traveling in the Saigon River tunnel arrived at a location 300m from the beginning of the Thu Duc tunnel, when the bus suddenly broke down.
A cargo truck that was traveling in the same lane could not control the steering wheel and crashed into the rear of the passenger bus. The rear-end collision caused other vehicles behind also to hit the rear of other front vehicles in the tunnel.
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Leaders of the city and agencies attend the drill (Photo: SGGP) |
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A firefighting truck arrives at the scene (Photo: SGGP) |
The friction between vehicles and the concrete floor in the tunnel caused a motorcycle fire, one more car traveling in the same direction collided with the car that had just hit the motorbike.
Many motorbike drivers tried not to hit the front vehicles; thus, they managed to brake quickly; as a result, they fell. Worse, cars stopped and could not move, resulting in partial traffic congestion inside the tunnel.
The rear-end collision made the truck driver and his assistant lose consciousness inside the cabin while the behind part of the truck caught fire. At the same time, many people got injured, frighteningly shouting, and looking for a way to escape.
When detecting fire, on-site forces informed professional firefighters as well as deployed firefighting. The Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Division (PC07) under the Ho Chi Minh City Public Security Department dispatched firefighters from the Thu Duc City Fire and Rescue Police Team and the Fire and Rescue Team in the section 1 to the scene to put out the flames and save people trapped in vehicles.
Upon realization of the complicated development of the fire, the PC07 reported to the Board of Directors of the city Public Security Department.
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Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Ngo Minh Chau speaks at the drill (Photo: SGGP) |
Leaders of the PC07 Department reported to Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Ngo Minh Chau about the information on fire, explosions, and accidents requesting more personnel and firefighting trucks from military units, and departments. Vice Chairman Ngo Minh Chau directed the units, departments, forces of the City Command and police officers to soon arrive at the tunnel for saving people.
Speaking at the drill, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Ngo Minh Chau said that the likelihood of fire and explosion in traffic tunnels is high while the consequences are often especially serious, and firefighting and rescue are also extremely difficult. In the country, many fires have occurred in the Hai Van tunnel, but firefighting forces promptly handled them, so no serious damage was reported.
Realizing the importance of firefighting in a tunnel as well as the actual situation in the country and experience from fires occurring in the world, over the years after the Saigon River Tunnel was opened to the public, leaders of Ho Chi Minh City have taken heed of security, order, and safety for this tunnel. The southern metropolis has many times organized rehearsals of traffic accidents, fire fighting and rescue in the tunnel.
By Chi Thach – Translated by Anh Quan
