Formosa responsible for mass fish deaths: Vietnamese government

By VnExpress June 30, 2016 | 02:27 am PT

Vietnamese government on Thursday announced that Taiwanese Formosa Steel Plant is responsible for polluting the sea in central Vietnam which has killed tons of fish in April.

Vietnamese government holds a press briefing on mass fish deaths Thursday. Photo by VnExpress

The discharge from Ha Tinh’s Vung Ang contains toxins that killed fish and other creatures in the seabed. The violations during trial operations of Formosa steel plant is the cause for the mass fish deaths in the four central provinces of Vietnam, the government concluded.

In early April, large quantities of fish washed up dead near the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province. The disaster stretched 200 kilometers along the central Vietnamese coast, as far south as Thua Thien-Hue, resulting in the death of more than 70 tons of sea fish and 35 tons of farm-raised fish. Especially hard hit were Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue provinces where thousands of fishermen lost customers or were forced to sell at a loss.

In the letter of apology on Thursday, the Taiwanese Group pledged to:

- Compensate local people for economic losses, help them find new jobs and subsidize clean-up activities.

- Rehabilitate the marine environment in the four central provinces.

- Fix its sub-standard wastewater treatment system.

- Work with Vietnamese authorities to set up reasonable measures to protect the environment in central Vietnam to avoid similar environmental incidents and restore the trust of the Vietnamese people and international friends.

Illustrated by VnExpress/Tien Thanh

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