Body of Nghe An gold miner swept away by flood found

On November 30, Phuoc Son District Police (Quang Nam Province) said they had just handed over the body of Luong Van Duy (30 years old, Chieu Luu Commune, Ky Son District) to his family to bring back to his hometown for burial.

According to the statements of those who accompanied him, more than a month ago, Duy and some young men in the village went to Quang Nam to work as gold miners. After that, they applied to work at Phuoc Minh Company Limited - one of the largest gold mining enterprises in Quang Nam.

Working here for a short time, witnessing the landslide, on November 23, Duy and his group of workers decided towalk through the forest for dozens of kilometersFrom Phuoc Thanh commune, he went to the district center to catch a bus home. Two days later, when he arrived at the Nuoc Mat stream area near Dak Mi 3 hydropower plant (in Phuoc Cong commune), despite being prevented, Duy tried to cross the fast-flowing stream and was unfortunately swept away by the flood. The remaining three people later found a way to cross the stream, searched along the bank but were unsuccessful, so they returned to their hometown in Nghe An province to report the incident to Duy's relatives.

Road to gold mines in Quang Nam. Photo: Tien Hung

After that, one of the group led Duy's family to Phuoc Son district to search. It was not until November 28 that Duy's body was found in village 5 (Phuoc Chanh commune).

Regarding the search for 17 victims still missing in landslides in Tra Leng commune (Nam Tra My district) and Phuoc Loc commune (Phuoc Son district), due to heavy rain, rescue forces had to temporarily stop the search.

To ensure people's safety, the authorities of the two communes above have evacuated hundreds of households to safe places to prevent possible landslides and flash floods.

Phuoc Son District Police worked with Phuoc Minh Company, but through checking the records, the names of the four workers were not found. Mr. Ngo Van Quang - Director of Phuoc Minh Company, also denied that this group of workers worked at the company's gold mine.

Quang Nam is known as"gold capital" of the country. Most of the workers at these gold mines are ethnic minority youths from Western Nghe An. In recent years, a series of accidents at gold mines have caused many workers from Nghe An to lose their lives there. The peak of which was the accident at the gold mine in Thanh My town (Nam Giang district) in 2016 that caused4 people died, including three Khmu brothers in Bao Thang commune, Ky Son. In addition, many workers who cannot stand the working environment are also oftenescape through the forest...

Previously, Mr. Luong Van Vinh - Head of Keng Du Commune Police (Ky Son District), said that the locality had just received 3 gold miners returned by Quang Nam Provincial Police. These were 3 of 11 people who were detained and beaten by the gold mine owner for escaping.

However, after being returned to their hometown, 8 of them did not return home but got off the bus along the way to find other jobs. All of them were Khmu youths from Keng Du commune.

A few days ago, they were given money by the Thanh My 1 gold mine to go to Quang Nam to make gold. This gold mine is one of the largest illegal mines in Quang Nam, operating for decades. There are often hundreds of "gold thieves" working day and night in the mine, most of whom come from Nghe An. Because the gold mine is located deep in the Thanh River Nature Reserve, the raid was very difficult. Nearly a year ago, Nghe An Newspaper published a series of articles reflecting on this situation after infiltrating illegal gold mines.

According to the gold miners, when they arrived at the site and witnessed the old tunnels, fearing they would collapse like a series of other accidents, the 11 people discussed running away.

While crossing the forest, they were captured by a group of gold guards led by a man named Tuan (37 years old), and taken to the owner's house in Thanh My town to be detained. The group of gold guards beat 5 people who resisted, and at the same time kept the victims' money and phones, preventing them from contacting the outside. They also set a condition that if anyone wanted to return to their hometown and not return to the gold mine, they had to contact their families and bring money to ransom them before they could be released.

Receiving information from people living nearby, Nam Giang District Police raided the house to rescue the gold miners.

The investigation agency is continuing to strengthen the case file to initiate criminal proceedings and prosecute this group of gold smugglers.