The mysterious fire that plagued tens of vehicles in
Vietnam last year has shown no sign of stopping, as two motorbikes and two
minibuses were burned on the first two days of the new year.
A report on VnExpress Monday
said two minibuses in the northern province of Tuyen Quang were totally damaged
in a flame at around 3 a.m. Monday.
The article quoted locals of
Yen Son District as saying that they heard a big explosion from My Lam Tea
Joint-stock Co. while they were sleeping. When they rushed out of their houses,
they saw two minibuses of Manh Vinh Transport Co. that were parked in front of
the tea company on fire.
On New Year’s Day, a motorbike
caught fire in Ho Chi Minh City, prompting a man and his wife to jump off it.
The couple were not injured.
The man told police that he
bought the bike, which was produced in China, four years ago for VND6.5 million
(US$309).
Initial information indicated
that the incident was probably caused by electrical leakage, police said.
That same day, another
motorbike, a Chinese-produced Wave, also caught fire in the southern province
of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, when its owner was opening the under-seat storage to fill
the bike's gasoline tank.
Witnesses said the gasoline
station’s staff had to push the bike away from fuel tanks before extinguishing
the fire.
Last year it was estimated that
at least 18 vehicular fires and explosions occurred across the country. The
fires were not exclusive to any particular brand, but occurred in various
Honda, SYM, and BMW models, said the Ministry of Public Security.
Most of the cases remain
unsolved so far, including the explosion of a Honda Dream that killed a woman
and her daughter in northern Vietnam on December 1.
Fuel in focus
In related news, authorities in
the north-central province of Quang Tri have ordered the provincial Department
of Science and Technology to work with police and other related agencies to
scrutinize local fuel traders’ operations.
The order came in response to
suspicions that recent vehicular fires have been caused by poor-quality
gasoline.
On December 31, a Ford Escape
in the province's Dong Ha Town caught fire, critically injuring two people.
Last week the suspicion raised
by local experts also prompted the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and
Quality, Vietnam’s quality watchdog, to take samples of gasoline related to the
cases and at random stations for tests.
However, so far all the
samples, except those taken from the Hanoi-based Mai Dich Gasoline Station, met
regulated safety standards, said Tran Van Vinh, deputy chief of the directorate
Together with acetone and
ethanol, methanol is being suspected of causing vehicular fires. Experts said
the additives increase gasoline’s combustion but are corrosive to rubber
materials. Thus, they will allow fuel to leak and ignite.
Following the findings, Vuong
Dinh Dung, director general of Military Petroleum Co., said it has terminated
its contract with Mai Dich, one of the company’s major agents, as of January 1.
According to Dung, the tests by
the directorate’s office QUATEST I found nothing wrong with the samples taken
from other stations.
Dung, however, stressed it was
possible that the recent fires and explosions were caused by various factors,
not gasoline quality only.
By T.Hang – Le Quan, Thanh Nien
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