Formosa claims responsibility for mass dying of fish in central coast

June 30, 2016 | 19:22

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Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co.Ltd, the operator of the $10.5 billion steel and port complex in the central province of Ha Tinh, is the culprit behind the massive wave of fish death in the four central coastal provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh, and Thua Thien-Hue in April this year.

Photo source VnExpress

This was officially announced by Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung at the government press conference on June 30.

According to Dung, after the research and analysis process, with the participation of ministries, provincial authorities as well as hundreds of international and domestic experts, the government determined that during the test runs, the factory discharged toxins, such as phenol, cyanide, which, combined with hydrogen, caused the mass fish deaths in the central coast of Vietnam.

In a video delivered at the press conference, Chen Yuan-Cheng, president of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co., Ltd. accepts full responsibility for the incident and made a public apology to the government and the Vietnamese people, especially the residents of the four provinces.

Chen added that Formosa committed to paying a compensation of $500 million for households who suffered economic damages and for marine environmental pollution treatment.

In addition, Formosa will repair its wastewater treatment system to prevent similar incident in the future. Simultaneously, the company will co-operate with relevant ministries and provincial authorities to implement synchronous measures to avoid a similar environmental breakdown.

Previously, before the inspicion on Formosa’s discharge toxins into the sea, on April 28, a group of inspectors led by Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha, arrived at Ha Tinh’s Ky Anh district to take water and sediment samples to find the cause of the mass fish deaths. The group also checked the wastewater treatment system of Taiwanese Formosa’s Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co., Ltd.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in collaboration with scientists, will work with companies in the province’s Vung Ang economic zone to collect information about their wastewater volume. Besides, the local authorities will supervise the volume of wastewater discharged into the sea through online camera systems.

Further information can be read in VIR’s edition published on Monday, July 4, 2016.