'Suspicious' death of woman working at Cung ferry

(Baonghean) - The enterprise that defied the suspension order of the People's Committee of Do Luong district is Son Ha Construction Materials and Trading Company Limited, which has a sand and gravel trading yard next to Cung ferry, in Trung Son commune. The incident started with information from people in Cat Van commune (Thanh Chuong) via the Nghe An Newspaper hotline on January 3, 2017.

People of Cat Van commune informed: at about 6:30 p.m. on January 2, 2017, at the sand wharf of Trung Son commune, while operating a sand shovel, the sand shovel fell on the head of a woman who was working there, killing her on the spot. The victim was Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu (born in 1971), residing in Phong Thinh commune, Thanh Chuong district.

Rough verification results

Present at Cung ferry terminal on the morning of January 5, 2017, some local residents confirmed that they had heard about the accident. They said that Ms. Thu was working to collect sand for the crane to scoop up whenever a sand suction boat docked. That day, while Ms. Thu was working on the boat, the crane had a brake failure and could not control the sand scoop. As a result, the sand scoop fell freely from above, causing an accident for Ms. Thu.

Panoramic view of the sand wharf of Son Ha Construction Materials and Trading Company Limited in Trung Son Commune (Do Luong) - photo taken on January 5, 2017. (Photo: Nhat Lan)

To clarify whether or not Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu died, we went to Phong Thinh commune. Here, the Chairman of the People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Tu Nham confirmed this incident; and the judicial officer of Phong Thinh commune completed the death certificate procedures. Mr. Nham said: "I heard people say that Ms. Thu had an accident at the sand and gravel wharf in Do Luong district."

Also on January 5, when verifying the information in Trung Son commune, some officials of this commune said that "they just learned about this information now". The Chairman of the Commune People's Committee (named Linh) confirmed over the phone that "Commune police have verified that there was no fatal accident".

Working with the Trung Son Commune Police Department, Chief of Police Le Xuan Toan began: “The business has been suspended so it has not been operating for a whole week. There was no accident. It was just that Ms. Thu fainted…”. Mr. Toan also said that upon hearing the information, he coordinated with the district police officers to verify and “made a record”.

Portrait of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu. Photo: Van Ly.

The verification report made by the Trung Son Commune Police Department at 2:45 p.m. on January 3, 2017 had very sketchy content. The verification was carried out, as shown in the report, by Mr. Le Xuan Toan, Mr. Phan Ba ​​Hau - permanent security officer of the commune and Mr. Hoang The Anh - Do Luong District Police. The only person verified was Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - manager of the sand wharf.

The minutes consist of 2 parts. The content of the incident (part 1) states: “On January 3, 2017, the Trung Son Commune Police and Do Luong District Police received a report from the people. Yesterday, January 2, 2017, there was a fatal accident at Son Ha sand wharf (Hamlet 3, Trung Son Commune). Upon receiving the report, the commune officials, Trung Son Commune Police and District Police went to the scene to verify, but the wharf management staff said that there was no work accident at the sand wharf. Only yesterday afternoon, Ms. Vo Thi Thu, born in 1975, with permanent residence in Khanh Thanh Hamlet, Phong Thinh Commune, a worker on Mr. Phong's sand dredging boat in Cat Van Commune (Thanh Chuong) had a stroke and fainted right on the boat at around 5:00 p.m. At that time, Mr. Phong's family brought her to Phong Thinh for emergency treatment, but she died before she could get to the emergency treatment.”

Vehicles waiting for cranes to load sand onto trucks - photo taken on January 5, 2017. (Photo: Nhat Lan)

The testimony of the person present, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (part 2) stated: “Yesterday afternoon, January 2, 2017, I was on duty at the wharf when at 5:15 p.m. I heard people say that Mrs. Thu, who was working for Uncle Phong’s ship, had a stroke. After that, the family took the ship to Thanh Chuong for emergency treatment. At that time, at the sand wharf were Mr. Vo Hao Quang, sitting on an excavator to load sand onto a car; Mr. Vo Van Hoang, sitting on a crane. There were a number of sand-making ships below the wharf; I don’t know who they were.” The minutes only had the signature of the Chief of Police of Trung Son Commune, Mr. Le Van Toan, and the “person who knew about the incident”, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh.

Asking the question: With only the information from the sand wharf manager, the Trung Son Commune Police Department confirmed that there was no fatal accident? Mr. Toan did not answer. He asked again: Why is the investigation and verification of information about a fatal accident so sketchy? Mr. Toan hesitated for a moment and then answered: I also intended to go to Phong Thinh to get more information, but the people involved in the verification said it was not necessary...(?)

Businesses "ignore" suspension orders

According to Mr. Dau Van Chinh - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Do Luong district, Son Ha Construction Materials and Trading Company Limited is currently having all operations suspended. And the District People's Committee has issued a document assigning the Trung Son Commune People's Committee to regularly inspect and monitor the implementation of the District People's Committee's suspension directive for the enterprise.

“This morning, I heard the Head of the Nghe An Newspaper asking about the accident at the sand mining wharf in Trung Son commune. Actually, I just heard about this information. After that, I called the Chairman of Trung Son commune to ask and was told that the business had stopped operating for a long time and there had been no accident…” - Mr. Chinh said.

On the afternoon of January 5, we went with the Chief of Police of Trung Son Commune to the sand wharf of Son Ha Construction Materials and Trading Company Limited. The sand wharf of this enterprise is only about 500m from the headquarters of Trung Son Commune and has a wide dirt road leading to it for vehicles to enter and exit.

The sand wharf is quite large, stretching several hundred meters along the riverbank. Below the river wharf, there are quite a few sand dredgers anchored; on the wharf, in addition to two towering tower cranes, there are a number of excavators and a level four operating house, a corrugated iron frame house for equipment. On the wharf, there are many large sand dunes, including some wet sand.

Vehicles entering to buy and sell sand at the wharf of Son Ha Construction Materials and Trading Company Limited - photo taken on January 5, 2017. (Photo: Nhat Lan)

Seeing our presence, the people present here showed signs of discomfort. When introduced as reporters, they said that the person in charge was not present. When they went down to the beach, they followed us and did not agree to let the reporters take pictures.

Asked, is this sandbank legal or not? They answered “legal”. So why are they afraid to take photos and videos? “We have to ask the person in charge” - one person answered. Said: “We have the Chief of Police of Trung Son commune with us. Is that not enough to guarantee our qualifications with you guys?” This person remained silent.

During our stay, a truck came in to buy sand. However, the people at the dock only exchanged money and did not load the sand onto the truck. After we left the yard, the excavator immediately started loading the sand onto the truck.

Questioning the Chief of Police of Trung Son Commune: "At the wharf, there are wet sandbanks, just brought up from the river, how dare Trung Son Commune affirm that the business has stopped operating?". Mr. Le Xuan Toan did not answer.

Staying outside the sand wharf for a short while, the vehicles going down to the wharf to buy and sell sand were quite busy. Among them, there were even trucks with huge loads...

Ha Giang - Viet Long