Government officials will announce the official cause of central Vietnam's mass fish death on Wednesday, June 29.
Lieutenant General Tran Van Ve, deputy director general of the Ministry of Public Security, told the media there would be a press conference held this coming Wednesday to explain the cause of the fish kill, reports Zing.
Ve's ministry has been cooperating with the relevant authorities as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, he said, in order to clarify the reasons behind the fish die-off which killed several dozen tons of fish along a 200-kilometer stretch of coast.
Beginning in early April, scores of dead sea life began to wash up on the shores of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces. Though Vietnamese media initially pointed the finger at Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company, a Taiwanese firm based in Ha Tinh's Vung Ang Economic Zone, government officials later claimed there was no conclusive link between Formosa and the fish kill.
Instead, authorities speculated about the possibility of both natural and manmade disasters contributing to the mass die-off. A team of 100 foreign and Vietnamese scientists were enlisted to assess the problem in early May, according to government officials. The United States administration also offered to provide assistance to Vietnam in resolving this issue, reports VnExpress.
Since the start of June, authorities have repeatedly promised to announce the cause of the fish kill within the month.
Meanwhile, Formosa has suffered a bout of bad PR in the country, most of all thanks to the unpleasant remarks of its former company head Chou Chun Fan, who told local media: “I cannot assure you that the activities of the steel factory would not impact marine life. You win some, you lose some.”
Though Fan was promptly fired following the incident, Formosa has since been ordered to dig up its East Sea wastewater pipe and is now being charged with tax evasion. Earlier this month, the company also postponed its official operation start date due to a stalled licensing application and pending legal concerns.
[Photo via Tuoi Tre]
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