Police find criminal signs in scaffold collapse that killed 13 in Vietnam

Part of the scene of the scaffold collapse at the construction site of the Son Duong Port in the
Taiwanese-invested Formosa Industrial Park, which is located in the Vung Ang economic zone

Police officers in the north-central province of Ha Tinh on Tuesday announced a decision to commence criminal proceedings for the collapse that they said has signs of criminal offenses.

“The case is no longer a mere accident. Police have determined that there are criminal signs in it and have therefore kicked off criminal proceedings,” said Colonel Bui Dinh Quang, deputy director of the Ha Tinh Police Department.

The collapse occurred at 8:00 pm on March 25 at the construction site of the Son Duong Port, where Samsung C&T Corp, a unit of South Korea's Samsung Group, is the main contractor, in the Taiwanese-invested Formosa Industrial Park, which is located in the Vung Ang economic zone.

Also on Tuesday police officers held a meeting with relevant agencies to discuss an investigation plan to find out the cause of the accident and clarify the responsibilities of those concerned.

At the meeting, police concluded that there are signs of criminal offences in the collapse after analyzing the results of their initial investigation, the information and evidence collected from the scene, and the testimonies of the victims and witnesses.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung demanded on Monday that the chairperson of the Ha Tinh People’s Committee order bodies involved to look into the cause of the collapse and strictly handle it in accordance with current regulations.

On the same day, the deputy director of the Ha Tinh police department, Nguyen Van An, said that employees of the South Korean contractor are banned from leaving Vietnam.

According to the provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, the collapse was likely brought about by a fault in the friction band of the hydraulic system that lifted materials at the scaffolding area.

An Ninh Thu Do (Capital Security) newspaper cited surviving workers as saying that when dozens of them were working on the scaffold, the rail of the hydraulic system that was lifting materials up suddenly fell from a height of 30 meters, taking along with it the entire scaffolding, which was 25 meters tall, 40 meters long, and 35 meters wide.

Worker Nguyen Van Hanh, 24, who was injured in the incident, toldTuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that he was working at the site on the evening of March 25 when he felt the scaffold under his feet sink down twice and shake.

Someone was shouting to warn that the scaffold could collapse and all workers fled the scene, Hanh said.

After ten minutes, a South Korean manager asked the workers to return to work and assured them that it was safe, he said, adding that several minutes later the entire scaffold, weighing hundreds of metric tons, fell down with a crash.