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14 killed, dozens injured in Vietnam scaffolding collapse

Thursday, 26 March 2015 8:24 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 26 March 2015 8:24 AM ]

This AFP photo taken late on March 25, 2015 shows workers and rescuers gathering at the site of collapsed scaffolding at an industrial plant construction site which killed 14 people in north-central Vietnam.

At least 14 people have been killed and 28 others injured after scaffolding collapsed at a steel plant under construction in north-central Vietnam, officials say.

The deadly accident occurred late Wednesday, when the workers were constructing concrete blocks as part of a seaport breakwater project in Vietnam’s north-central coastal province of Hà Tĩnh, the office manager of the provincial People’s Committee, Le Minh Dao, said on Thursday.

At the time of the accident, above 40 workers were working on the 65-feet (20-meter) scaffolding.

“We have pulled out 12 bodies. Two other bodies will soon be rescued from the rubble,” Dao added.

Meanwhile, the deputy police chief in Hà Tĩnh, Bui Dinh Quang, said that it was not yet known whether any other laborer was trapped in the wreckage and that rescue teams along with the country’s police are still searching.

According to a medical official of Hà Tĩnh General Hospital, 19 workers were being treated, with 15 in critical conditions.

The reason behind the collapse of the scaffolding was not immediately clear; however, Dao said an investigation would be launched.

Local officials said the eight-billion-dollar steel complex belongs to the Taiwanese group, Formosa Plastics.

During an anti-China protest last May, the site of the Formosa’s steel mill and Son Duong deepwater seaport complex project, located in the Vung Ang economic zone in Hà Tĩnh, was vandalized and partly burned down by rioters, claiming two Chinese nationals' lives, and wounding above 100 both Chinese and Vietnamese.

The project has recently been criticized in Vietnam’s state-controlled media for violating local labor laws by employing too many Chinese workers.

Fatal incidents at construction sites in Vietnam are usual because labor and safety regulations are not observed.

MIS/NN/HMV

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