Seven people drowned and eight others were missing in northern Vietnam after panicking water buffaloes capsized a river ferry, DPA QUOTED officials and local media as saying Wednesday. Authorities and volunteers were searching the Da River on Wednesday for survivors of the accident but were beginning to give up hope. "We will try to salvage the boat today and see how many people are still stuck inside," said Pham Ngoc Kim, a local police official in Phu Tho province, 70 kilometres northeast of Hanoi. The 25-metre steel motorboat was carrying about 24 people, mostly women traders who were taking livestock to market including chickens, pigs and two water buffaloes, according to Nguyen Van Thanh, another lcoal police officer. The ferry was travelling down the Da River picking up passengers and livestock when the accident happened Tuesday afternoon. "The driver got into the strong current of Da River, and lost the control when he took the bend," Thanh said. "Animals on the boat panicked and rushed to the sides, overturning the boat." A passenger who survived the accident, Ta Van Hoa, told Tuoi Tre newspaper that some people who were below deck were trapped when the boat capsized. "The driver lost control and two buffaloes started running and panicking," Hoa, 36, told the paper. "I was on the outside deck when the boat overturned, so I clung to a plastic can and made it to shore." The boat owner and captain, Luong Van Ly, 36 survived the accident but his wife is missing. Ly has been detained by police and may face criminal negligence charges, Thanh said. Tuesday's accident was the second waterway disaster in Vietnam this month. On October 7, a wooden boat carrying students to school capsized in central Vietnam, killing 19 children.
