A bus carrying 31 passengers fell into a river while crossing a bridge that was under repair in northern Quang Tri Province, leaving 17 passengers injured.   At about 3 pm on Thursday, when the bus that departed from central Nghe An Province was crossing the Truc Khe Bridge on National Highway 1A in Cam Lo District, it suddenly turned right and fell into the river, about 20 meters below. 32-year-old Dao Van Hai, the bus driver, of Nghe An, said that he swerved the bus to avoid hitting a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. The surface of the bridge was being repaired, so vehicles of both directions could only travel on only one lane, Hai explained. The depth of the river section where the bus fell into is about 2 meters.  Many local residents rushed to the scene to help passengers get out of the bus and swim ashore. Many people broke the bus windows to make way for the victims to escape from the half-sunken bus that was lying on its side in the river.  All of the 17 injured passengers were taken to the Quang Tri General Hospital for treatment. All of the 31 passengers are from Nghe An’s Nam Dan District and they are mostly relatives. They had attended a party in Hue City and was on the way back to Nghe An when the accident occurred. The accident caused a congestion lasting for more than an hour on a highway section of over three kilometers.