VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of tons of red mud from the broken reservoir on the titanium exploitation site flowed impetuously, sweeping away many things. Relevant agencies have affirmed that the investors must take the responsibility for the accident.

A red mud reservoir got broken at 8 am of November 18 on the area where the Binh Thuan Investment and Mineral JSC was exploiting titanium.

By the afternoon of November 19, the stretch of road which was deeply inundated under the red mud had been cleared after the company’s workers dredged the road with a machine and cleaned it with water.

In the Thuan Quy coastal forest, the mud had begun got dry, creating a thick mud layer. The muddy water streams to the sea had also got dry, leaving a mud layer 7-8 cm in thickness.

On the Thuan Quy seaside, the 50 meter sand bank was seen covered by a thick red mud layer with the thickness of up to 50 cm.

Huynh Giac, Director of the Binh Thuan Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, said shortly after the accident occurred, the department sent a team to the site to repair the damage and request the company to settle the problem.

However, Giac said the company has suspended its operation for the last six months, the department could not find out the volume of mud flowing out of the reservoir.

Also according to Giac, the broken reservoir covers an area of 1,500 square meters. As it rained heavily on the day before the accident occurred, it is difficult to define the volume of water contained in the reservoir.

Local people complained that they got stuck in the red mud overflowed from the reservoir and their houses have got seriously polluted. Meanwhile, Giac affirmed that this was just the natural sand and earth, and that the waste sludge has been discharged to the environment for a long time, which has not caused any problems to the environment.

“The red mud may make the water turbid, because it may soak into artesian waters. As for the red mud flowing to the sea, I think the mud would deposit in some days,” Giac said.

When asked who should claim responsibility for the reservoir breaking, he affirmed that the investor, i.e. the Binh Thuan Investment and Mineral JSC, must do this.

The company reportedly did not have the division in charge of examining the reservoir after rains. The reservoir is located on a hill at the height of 15-20 meters.

Le Dac Lam, Deputy Head of the Binh Thuan provincial National Assembly’s Deputy Delegation, who attends the ongoing National Assembly session in Hanoi, said the red mud reservoir breaking once occurred in Binh Thuan in the past.

Lam said the provincial authorities have instructed the investor to troubleshoot immediately to bring local people’s lives back to the normal track.

However, it’s still unclear what the investor would do to fix the problem. Reporters could not contact the managers of the Binh Thuan Investment and Mineral Company on November 19. Only the director’s general director To Tai Tich answered the call late in the afternoon, but he only said that he has reported the case to the Binh Thuan provincial People’s Committee and then hang up.

Kim Chi