Foreigner allegedly killed by falling rocks at illegal mining site in Vietnam

Police officers in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai came to a lead-zinc mining area in Ia Pai District on Wednesday afternoon to examine the scene where 30-year-old He Mao Xian was reported to have been hit by falling mountain rocks.

A source from the scene said He and a number of other workers were in a mining pit when rocks and soil suddenly fell down on the man, who hailed from the Chinese province of Guangxi.

The victim was taken to the Ayun Pa Town General Hospital on Tuesday night with brain injuries and other wounds over his body.

Due to his critical condition, the foreigner died 20 minutes after hospitalization, despite efforts by doctors to save his life.

The mining site belongs to the Gia Lai-based Duc Long Gia Lai Group Joint Stock Company (Duc Long Gia Lai Group), which still sent workers to the area for mineral exploitation activities even though the provincial People’s Committee had suspended all mining work there, a local police officer said.

At the time of the deadly accident, four Chinese workers including He and his younger brother were working at the site, a top official at the provincial People’s Committee said.

However, Pham Anh Hung, general director of the Duc Long Gia Lai Group, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the group did not know these workers. “They could have come from somewhere else,” he said.

A representative of the group at the mine added that “these Chinese workers are waiting to complete procedures for entry into Vietnam and have yet to be allowed to engage in mining activities.”

Meanwhile, officials from the provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs (DOLISA) affirmed that all these Chinese miners have not obtained work permits from competent authorities.

“The Duc Long Gia Lai Group has many times sent workers to the mining site to work without completing the required procedures. The provincial People’s Committee has suspended the operation of the mine since November 2014,” an official at the DOLISA said.

On Wednesday afternoon, local competent agencies carried out formalities to take a number of Chinese workers out of the mining site,Tuoi Tre correspondents reported from the scene.