In a rare move, state broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV), in its flagship current affairs programme on Aug 17, devoted a full six-minute report to a fatal traffic accident that took place in Hanoi more than a year ago.

In a country where more than 10,000 people are killed in traffic accidents each year, such events would hardly be expected to attract much attention. Yet this incident, involving a former senior politician, has caused a storm in the run-up to Vietnam’s National Day on Sept 12, prompting the authorities to issue an official statement on what happened.

On May 30, 2025, former Vietnamese National Assembly deputy Nguyen Sy Cuong, 64, was driving his luxury car when it suddenly veered into the opposite lane at high speed and collided head-on with an oncoming motorbike carrying a father and his 18-year-old daughter.

The collision severed the teen’s right leg, leaving her in extreme pain and causing heavy blood loss. The teen, Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy, was taken to hospital but died 10 days later, just days before her high school graduation examination.

The case was transferred to Hanoi Police for investigation, but no further information has been made public since then. The last time it was mentioned in the domestic media was on May 31, one day after the accident.

After that, there was only radio silence.

But things changed more than a week ago, when millions of posts began spreading across Vietnamese social media, notably Threads, using hashtags such as #NguyenSyCuong, named after the former politician, and #BMW, referring to the brand of luxury car he was driving.

The anonymous users, who identified themselves as Gen Z or people in their late teens and twenties, called for a public investigation into the accident and for the person responsible to be held accountable.

Internet users alleged that the authorities had tried to prevent netizens from accessing such content online. But tech-savvy internet users found ways to disseminate the messages across different platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and X.