Traffic severely congested after long Tet holiday TUOI TRE        Thousands of motorists flock to Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of Feb 16 2013. Photo: Tuoi Tre Major highways across the country saw massive traffic jams on Saturday as large crowds of people started to head back to Ho Chi Minh City and other eastern provinces to continue to work after spending time with their families in their hometowns during Tet or Vietnamese Lunar New Year. It was reported that thousands of motorists had to queue up for kilometers on HCMC – Trung Luong Highway that connects HCMC and Mekong Delta provinces in the south on Feb 16. At the city’s eastern gateway, a large number of motorists found themselves held up in heavy traffic jams on a section of Highway 1 that runs from Vung Tau T-junction to Suoi Tien tourist area based in HCMC when they were heading to the city at 4pm on Feb 16. In the central province of Quang Ngai, at 4pm on Feb 16, hundreds of passengers were waiting to be transported to HCMC at Quang Ngai and Chin Nghia bus stations. Do Tien Dat, deputy director of Quang Ngai province’s Department of Transport, confirmed with Tuoi Tre that more than 500 passengers have got stuck at the two bus stations for several hours because of the traffic congestion in Phu My district in Binh Dinh – its neighbor province. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, on Saturday asked units and localities country-wide to strictly implement measures to ensure the safety of people and vehicles on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. He judged that the traffic on Feb 16 and 17 will become more complicated as people started to head back to big cities which will highly increase the risk of accidents. At 5:30pm on Feb 16, a serious traffic crash occurred on Bao Lao mountain-pass located on Highway 20 in Da Huoai district in the central highlands province of Lam Dong, killing 7 people, with two of them being children. Initial investigation found that a truck from Dong Nai province crashed into three motorbikes. In other news, there was a collision between a passenger and a truck on a section of Highway 1 that runs through Phu Cat district in Binh Dinh province at 3am on Feb 16, seriously injuring three people and causing a 10-hour long congestion in the area. This year’s Lunar New Year holiday – the country's biggest holiday – is longer than usual as the last days of the holiday fall on the weekends. It spans from Feb 6 to Feb 17. Heavy traffic congestion on Kenh Xang Bridge in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang at 5:40pm on Feb 16. Thousands of motorists flock to Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of Feb 16 2013.    A long line of cars and buses were waiting to be allowed to move when traffic officers were handling a traffic accident on a section of Highway 1 that runs through Binh Dinh province on Feb 16, 2013.