Illegal workers die in Russia

(Baonghean.vn) - They are farmers who work hard in the fields but do not have enough to eat, so they have to close their eyes and take a risk to go abroad as tourists in the hope of "changing their lives". However, in the end, they lost their lives in the cold Russian winter, leaving their relatives in despair when not even a handful of ashes of the victims' bodies could be brought back to their country.

SOS calls from Russia

While we were busy preparing for the New Year's Eve, we received a phone call from a stranger in Russia. It was on January 22 (the 30th of the Lunar New Year). "Hey, they haven't paid us for over a year, they only gave us food. Many of us had to sneak out to work, but they reported us to the police and fined us... Up to now, three people have died, but they weren't buried, they were just wrapped in cloth and covered with dirt..."

From far away Russia, the cry for help from workers reported that three people had died in a gas suffocation incident, but none of them were buried, only buried in the ground. Two of them even had to lie in the same... hole. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year (January 23), the other number also announced the detailed names of two victims, and the third victim, they did not remember the name and address, only knowing that they were from Nghe An and both died on December 14, 2011. What made us worried was that this time the person calling for help also gave the detailed name and address of the person who illegally took them away, along with the address and name of the person calling for help, forcing us to investigate and find the whereabouts of the families of the unfortunate victims.

Mr. Hoang is burning incense for his son named Khoa.

We went to the nearest address named Khoa, who had permanent residence in Quynh Luu district. Based on the name and district of residence, after three days of investigation and searching, we knocked on the door of the first victim's house, which was in hamlet 3B, Quynh Loc commune, Quynh Luu district. When we showed up, Mr. Le Cong Hoang, the father of the victim Le Cong Khoa, was still in shock next to his son's portrait in front of the newly set up altar.

After sharing the conversation between the author and the person calling for help from Russia, Mr. Hoang slowly told: “Khoa was born in 1992, went with two other people in the village, Ho Si Ho and Ho Duc Thiem, each person had to pay Ms. Lanh, wife of Dinh Quang Phuc, permanent resident of Hamlet 3, Dien Hanh Commune, Dien Chau District, 2,700 USD. They all boarded the plane in February 2011, but on December 10, 2011, Ho called to inform them that Khoa had suffocated with gas and died along with two other people from Dien Chau. “It was so hard, uncle, he had only sent back more than 20 million VND, while the amount of money borrowed from the bank and from relatives for him to go was up to 50 million VND, and now the interest is compounding, what can we get to pay it back?” Mr. Hoang cried as he told. “I know it was an illegal trip, but now I just hope that the person who took him will support me with some money to pay off the bank debt, because bringing his body back would cost 3 million VND. billion dong, my whole family's life together still can't have that amount of money".

Saying goodbye to Mr. Hoang, we went to Dien Doai, where the victim’s family from Russia called for help. It was very difficult to convince the victim’s brother to provide full information about the “illegal journey” of the group of hundreds of people led by Dinh Quang Phuc. However, after a while of persuasion, the victim’s brother explained the reasons agreed upon between the workers and the people who took them, so there was no reason for them to be responsible. At the same time, another phone call came from Russia and the victim also asked to remain anonymous because it was “very dangerous” when they could not return home.

Leaving Dien Doai, we went to Hamlet 2, Dien Hanh Commune, where the victim Nguyen Van Tuan also shared the same fate as Le Cong Khoa. When we entered the house, the first thing that caught our eyes was Tuan's newly set up altar, still filled with incense smoke. Telling the story in tears, Duc - Tuan's son said: "My father passed away this year, just turned 43 years old, and my mother, Dang Thi Nhung, 40 years old, also sells clothes at Phu Dien market".



Mr. Tuan's son is burning incense for his father.

To Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh, father of the victim Nguyen Van Dung in Phuc Nguyen hamlet, Dien Phuc commune, Dien Chau district. Mr. Vinh said: Dung returned from the army in December 2009, then on February 10, 2011, he paid 50 million VND to Ms. Lanh, Phuc's wife, to go abroad to work illegally, hoping to find a stable job to change his life.

Who would have thought that after less than a year, and only sending back twenty million, he would pass away in a gas explosion. His death left my family devastated because out of seven siblings, he was the third and most obedient. I myself am a veteran of more than 10 years in the army but have not had the opportunity to rebuild the house properly, I thought I could count on him... " Unlike Khoa and Tuan who were "buried" together without a grave, Dung was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment and thanks to the acquaintances of his family there, they quickly buried him within 30 minutes when the authorities did not know, so Dung was put in a tomb and given a peaceful grave. The above information was provided by a friend of Dung to Mr. Vinh, Dung's father, two days later. Mrs. Tran Thi Nguyet, the victim Dung's mother, said: "My family is purely agricultural, with the borrowed 50 million VND, it is tens of tons of rice. But the difficulty is one thing, I hope that the person who took the child will find every way to bring the child's body back to the country so that my wife and I can die in peace."

Victim Nguyen Van Dung, Phuc Nguyen hamlet, Dien Phuc commune, passed away at a very young age.

It is known that every year, hundreds of workers across the country go abroad to work illegally with ordinary passports, and a significant number of these workers die in foreign countries due to labor disputes, hardship, and thousands of other reasons.

Knowing that working illegally is a violation of the law, and that you will have to rely on luck, but because the money you spend is small, many people still rush to help criminals who are still freely looking for money to break the law. When this investigation ended, we once again received a phone call from Russia informing us that up to now, there were 3 more people from Ha Tinh who had the same unfortunate fate.

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