Koreans help cleft-palate children

Five children suffering from cleft palate were successfully operated on at Chung Ang University Hospital in South Korea earlier this week.

The operations were part of a charity programme that started in 2009. This year, it was sponsored by Doosan Vina, Chung Ang University Hospital and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co Ltd in South Korea.

Professor Bae Tae Hee said he was happy to give needy Vietnamese children back their smiles and guarantee them a "better future".

Luong Thi Ly, mother of one of the children, said she was very happy with the results of the operation, and added that she hoped more Vietnamese children would receive free surgery from Doosan Viet Nam.

One of the children is from the H're ethnic group in the central mountainous province of Quang Ngai. Before the programme was introduced, several babies from the group died due to serious cases of cleft palate that left them unable to eat or drink.

The programme cost US$30,000 including airfares, surgical fees and accommodation, said Le Trang Tinh, manager of Doosan Vina's external relations department.

Since Doosan Vina made a commitment to Quang Ngai Province's People's Committee in May 2009, volunteer doctors from South Korea have visited Viet Nam to perform surgeries as well as treating patients in their own country.

Belgium helps Binh Thuan manage water resources

The figure was released at a seminar held on March 15 by Binh Thuan province and BTC.

The seminar discussed training programmes for all relevant agencies in Binh Thuan to improve their water resources management capacity.

The training will be focused on four main areas: general management, technical management, operational and maintenance management, and supporting skills.

In the first two years, as from May there will be 61 training courses for local managers, workers and staff involved in the field of water resources.

HCMC rainstorm collapses houses, injures 4 people

The powerful unseasonal rainstorms yesterday collapsed 6 houses, blew off more than 100 roofs, and injured 4 people in Can Gio District.

It also removed a series of outdoor advertising panels and flooded numerous streets, leading to traffic congestion in many areas across the city.

Starting at about 3 pm yesterday the heavy rain, together with whirlwinds, blew off the roofs of many houses on Le Van Thinh Street, Binh Trung Dong Ward, District 2.

Locals saw numerous metal roofs fly from the houses into the air before scattering onto the streets, partly blocking traffic, especially on streets that were submerged under the rainwater.

Many roofing sheets became entangled in electricity transmission lines, posing threats to residents and commuters.

The ward People’s Committee later reported that 70 houses had lost their roofs to the strong winds.

In Cat Lai, An Phu and Thanh My Loi Wards, the number of houses that lost their roof was 15, 7 and 5 respectively, local authorities said.

The powerful wind also uprooted many trees in the district.

The Thanh My Loi preschool in Thanh my Loi Ward had two classrooms whose roofs was swept away by the wind, and several other classrooms at Nguyen Van Troi Junior high school met the same fate.

Luckily, there were no casualties reported during the devastation of the rainstorms, district authorities said, adding that 80 public service workers were tasked to clean up the streets after the rain ended.

In Binh Thanh District, scaffolding at a construction site for a multistory building on D 1 Street, Ward 25 collapsed due the strong wind. No workers were injured in the incident but many parts of the scaffold damaged power lines and knocked out power for hours.

Meanwhile, in Can Gio District, the local Urban Management Department reported that 6 houses had collapsed, 37 others had had their roofs blown off, and four people were injured during the rainstorm.

The victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Lan, of the Southern Hydro-meteorological Station, said that not only HCMC but many southwestern provinces also experienced similar weather.

The prolonged hot weather has led to the formation of many clouds from evaporated water from the ground, and those accumulated clouds caused the rainstorm.

She warned that similar storms may occur at least once more in the coming days, and such a rainstorm could include strong winds of up to force 6 or 7 (45-62 km per hour).

Shrapnel bombs detonated

About 64 shrapnel bombs from the American War were detonated during a controlled explosion in southern Bac Lieu Province on Wednesday, according to provincial Military Headquarters' Colonel Ho Van Dai.

He said the bombs, built without safety latches, were dropped by American troops during the war.

A local scrap collector in Gia Rai District, busy extracting aluminium, first discovered the bombs inside six 1.2-metre-long pipes.

The man informed local authorities who transferred the devices to a special area for detonation.

Police seize 8 tons of pig tripe without origin

Environmental police officers in Ho Chi Minh City have discovered and destroyed nearly 8 tons of pig tripe they found being stored without any documents.

Yesterday a team from the city Anti-Environmental Crime Police Department inspected without notice the Ha Long Seafood Processing Plant in the Tan Binh Industrial Park, in Tan Phu District, and discovered a large quantity of pig tripe of unknown origin stored there.

The plant belongs to the HCMC branch of Ha Long Fishery Discover Company in northern Hai Phong City.

Nguyen Tu Dai, director of the branch, told police that his company leased a part of the plant’s premises, including a cold storage area, to another company based on a contract between the two sides.

The actual user of the leased area, Nguyen Trung Nam, 52, of Can Tho Province, failed to show the officers any documents to prove the origin of the goods.

After questioning Nam, police later inspected a house owned by Le Xuan Dieu in Trung My Tay Ward, District 12, and found more pig tripe, also without documents.

The total weight of the tripe at the two locations was about 8 tons.

According to the initial investigation results, most of the tripe had been purchased from Dong Nai Province, said Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Vu, deputy head of the team.

After being processed, the tripe would have been packaged and sold to China, the official said.

The team coordinated with the food safety and hygiene agencies of Tan Phu District and District 12 to destroy all of the tripe.

Int’l work safety cooperation promoted

A conference on safety and sanitation at work and labour inspection was held by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in Dong Nai province on March 15, to discuss measures to strengthen international cooperation and formulate strategies and policies on these issues.

The conference brought together officials from various international organisations, including the International Social Security Association (ISSA Mining), International Labour Organisation and labour inspection bodies from six ASEAN member countries.

Participants shared experience in applying successful models in many countries in the world and suggested various methods of ensuring safety and sanitation in Vietnam.

Speaking at the conference, MOLISA Deputy Minister Bui Hong Linh described safety and sanitation at work as increasingly critical issues, saying over the years the Vietnamese Government has given priority to the issue in its human resources development strategy.

Recently, there was an average of 6,000 cases of workplace accidents, with 500 deaths and 5,000 people injured a year. Around 1,500-2,000 fall victim to occupational diseases every year.

The Government has also coordinated with both employers and employees to protect labourers’ health, highlighted by a national programme of safety and sanitation at work till 2015 with the funding of VND700 billion, which offers healthcare services to workers.

At this event, MOLISA signed a three-year term cooperative agreement with ISSA, which allows the two sides to exchange delegations, experience and information on work safety and labour inspection issues, aiming to promote safe work activities and prevent and manage workplace risks in Vietnam.

Man caught carrying 101 kg of highly toxic cyanide

Police in Lam Dong Province have detained a 32-year-old-man for illegally transporting 101 kg of cyanide, a highly toxic substance to plants, animals and humans.

Yesterday Tran Vinh Phu, head of the Dam Rong District Police, said the he has extended the detention term to Le Huy Van, of Dak Glong District, Dak Kong Province, for further investigation of the case in which he was caught trafficking the extremely toxic chemical.

The district police arrested Van on March 7 when he was riding a motorbike carrying the substance that was packed into three bags at the Dac Mang ferry area in the district.

Van failed to show police officers any documents related to the chemical. He said he had been hired by a person in Dak Nong to transport the cyanide to Lam Dong and then deliver it to illegal gold mining sites there.

The chemical will be used in gold refining processes at those mining sites, Van said.

The police are expanding their investigation to track down the owner of the cyanide and those who would have taken the chemical.

As an extremely hazardous chemical compound, cyanide is absolutely banned from use without permit from competent agencies.

Cyanide concentrations of as low as 0.1 mg/l are lethal to sensitive aquatic species, according to a medical website.

For humans, lethal doses are between 1 to 3 mg/kg of the person's body mass in cases of ingestion, between 100-300 mg/kg of the person's body mass in cases of absorption through the skin, and between 100-300 ppm if inhaled.

This means that an amount of cyanide weighing just a few milligrams would be sufficient to kill an adult.

HSBC assists disabled children in Danang

Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp Ltd (HSBC) has donated US$60,000 to the Children of Vietnam Organisation (CVO) in Danang as part of its global financial support programme for social organizations.

The sum will be used to support the current programme to take care of children with disabilities, including Agent Orange victims, and to improve the efficiency of local public services.

Around 50 children with disabilities will receive support from the programme over three years.

HSBC Vietnam Director General Sumit Dutta emphasized that CVO is implementing a significant programme for disabled children. He said he is very pleased to help expand the programme to other localities.

Since 2000, HSBC has donated US$3.5 million to 72 charitable organizations in the world, including CVO.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre