3 killed by lightning, 25 fishermen rescued

Two adults and a boy were fatally struck by lightning in Quang Ngai Province yesterday, June 15, while 25 fishermen were saved after their boats sank in a thunderstorm in the southern province of Ca Mau.

Lightning strikes during a thunderstorm in the central province’s Binh Son District yesterday afternoon killed three locals: Le Van Diem, 47, Nguyen Thi Dau, 60, and Bi Van Quoc, 8.

Diem and Dau were struck while working in rice fields while the boy was strolling near the sea.

Earlier, at 8 am, strong winds and a downpour plunged 13 fishing boats into the sea off the districts of Tran Van Thoi and Phu Tan in Ca Mau.

The provincial Border Guard Command and local authorities sent rescue boats to search for the 25 fishermen on board.

Thanks to the rapid response, all of them were saved, Nguyen Long Oai of the local Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue said.

The storm also blew the roofs off five houses in Tran Van Thoi and Dam Doi Districts, Oai said.

Two other boats with 18 fishermen aboard are reportedly missing, the Border Guard Command reported.

Local authorities have begun rescue efforts.

Whistle-blower to leave Toyota Vietnam for good

An engineer who exposed Toyota flaws leading to the biggest vehicle recall in Vietnamese history said he will leave Toyota Vietnam to seek pastures new after he was suspended by the very company he denounced.

Tach who is being suspended from working for Toyota Vietnam for three months starting June 13 told Dan Viet on Tuesday that he is preparing to open a private business and will quit the Toyota job.

But before leaving, Tach said he will complete paperwork to expose more technical faults on Toyota cars assembled in Vietnam and appeal against the suspension decision.

He revealed he had discovered four more technical errors on Toyota cars.

Tach became famous when he leaked information to the press and authorities about Toyota Vietnam’s technical faults. Due to Tach’s expose, since April this year, Toyota Vietnam has recalled 73,000 cars for problems related to bolts, pressure and seats.

In the latest move that Tach considers a punishment, he was suspended on the grounds that he negatively affected work and had a “bad influence” on colleagues.

However, the company denies punishing Tach, saying the suspension is in line with labor laws and company regulations.

The suspension stems from Tach’s baseless accusations that caused disunity among employees, and not to his whistle blowing, the company confirmed.

On May 31 Tach sent a complaint to the general director that seven senior officials had insulted and threatened him. He wanted the company to apologize and compensate him.

But the general director replied that the accusations lacked evidence.

Tran Quoc Hung, head of Toyota Vietnam’s planning department, earlier told Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper that after an investigation, the company found that many of the employees had “only joked” while some did not remember or spoke in an individual capacity and not on behalf of the company.

It thus ruled out paying compensation or tendering an apology.

Wife flees after poisoning husband’s family

Ha Giang Province’s police are searching for Mui May, a woman of the Dao ethnicity who has fled after allegedly poisoning four in-law relatives with gelsemium elegans leaves.

Shortly after they were poisoned, the victims were taken to the hospital by some neighbors, the police said.

The victims are May’s father-in-law, Phuong Choi Nhan, 47, her mother-in-law, Phuong Mui Muong, 47, and two sisters-in-law.

The four, residing in Hoang Su Phi District’s Nam Son Commune, are still being hospitalized.

The victims told the police that at 7:30 p.m. on June 13, May came to their house and prepared a salad dish for them.

May’s husband was away.

Right after eating the dish, all of them started to show poisoning symptoms, such as belly pain, vomiting and dizziness.

They believed May had used gelsemium elegans for the salad.

The police took samples from the dish and confirmed that it did contain gelsemium elegans leaves, a toxic plant indigenous to Southeast Asia and well known among hill tribes as an effective way to commit suicide.

JICA aids Vietnam’s expressway construction

The Ministry of Finance and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed an agreement in Hanoi on June 15 under which JICA will provide 40.946 billion JYP in loan for Vietnam to carry out two expressway segments.

This second loan for the fiscal year 2010 will be used for the building of Ho Chi Minh - Long Thanh - Dau Giay segment and the Da Nang - Quang Ngai segment, part of the North-South expressway.

They are expected to help boost the development of two economic zones in the southeast and south central regions once they open to traffic.

This year marks 19 consecutive years that the Japanese government, as Vietnam’s largest bilateral donor, has provided official development assistance to the country.

Ministry to verify police-owned trucks issue

The Ministry of Public Security said it will set up a team to investigate whether traffic police officials who own, or have family members who own, dump truck fleets are allowing them to violate traffic laws, or in other cases taking bribes from company owners, as reported by Tuoi Tre last month.

The team will launch investigations in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces to clarify the issue, said Public Security minister Le Hong Anh.

Earlier, Tuoi Tre found that a number of police traffic officers or their relatives own many fleets of dump trucks in Ho Chi Minh City and other localities, allowing the drivers to easily violate traffic laws without fear of retribution, and in other cases company owners pay off police.

The owner of the Cong Khanh truck fleet which operates in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces is a relative to a high-ranking traffic police officer in Dong Nai.

Cong Khanh carries out most of the contracts for transporting construction materials in the three localities, and its drivers frequently drive at high speeds and ignore traffic regulations.
On the night of May 12 at the Cong Hoa–Ngo Be intersection in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Tuoi Tre saw two traffic policemen ignore dump trucks running at high speeds toward District 12.

One day before, two policemen on Nguyen Thi Tu Street in Binh Tan District only stopped normal trucks or motorbikes that violated traffic regulations, while they let dump trucks through despite various infractions.

In Dong Nai province’s Thong Nhat District, a large fleet of dump trucks is owned by a traffic police officer. The officer’s son, who is head deputy of a local traffic police unit, protects the fleet’s drivers.

In the province’s Trang Bom District, the Tuan Hanh fleet is co-owned by a man named Tuan and another traffic official. Most of their drivers usually carry cargo beyond the legal load limit and neglect traffic laws.

During a one-hour period on the evening of May 10, Tuoi Tre saw about 40 dump trucks stop near the Hoa An roundabout in Bien Hoa. The drivers got out of their vehicles and approached two policemen standing in an obscured corner on the roadside. Each driver had a short conversation with the officers and then continued on.

In Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, Trung Hieu truck company is owned by a man named Trung, whose brother is a local police officer. Trung told a businessman on May 13 that he would manage the latter’s transport of soil and brick using overloaded trucks to an area near Phu My Port.

On May 10, an owner of a transport company who requested anonymity contacted Lieutenant Hoa, a traffic officer in Trang Bom District, Dong Nai province, to ask for his assistance in transporting construction materials with overloaded dump trucks.

Hoa said it would cost VND1 million (US$48.3) per truck for him to protect the vehicles as they pass through his district. The truck owner agreed to the price.

In another case, Hoa said he contacted some traffic officers in the province’s Thong Nhat District to discuss the transport of brick using five overloaded trucks from the district to the Dau Giay T-junction crossroads.

An officer named Chinh asked Hoa how much he would pay Trang Bom police for protection. After Hoa said the “fee” was VND1.2 million ($US58) per truck, Chinh said, he could not make the decision alone, but later told Hoa he would have to pay only VND500,000 ($24) per vehicle if he was on duty on the route.

4 injured by fallen large billboard

Four people were seriously injured when a 20-meter long and 10-meter wide billboard fell down due to strong winds and rain on Tuesday night in the central province of Thanh Hoa.

The billboard also crushed three motorbikes and a Mai Linh taxi and brought down a lamp post.

The taxi driver was injured on a shoulder while the three motorists who were waiting for relatives were severely wounded.

The four victims are being treated in the province’s Hop Luc General Hospital.

Le Van Tuan, another taxi driver said before the billboard fell, many taxi drivers and motorists were taking shelter under it and the Mai Linh taxi driver was preparing to sleep.

Housemaid arrested for stealing $30,000

The HCM City police yesterday arrested a housemaid for stealing US$20,000 and VND200 million ($10,000) from her employer in Binh Tan District.

Tran Thi Day, 35, of Dong Thap province, who was working in the house of 53-year-old Nguyen Thi Tuyet Hoa on 465, National Highway 1A, confessed to the police she stole the money on Tuesday.

While her employer’s family was sleeping in the morning, she stole the key, opened the safe, and took the cash.

Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper reported that the police have returned most of the stolen money to Hoa.

AIP Foundation helps children with genital deformity

The Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) on June 14 launched a programme on reshaping genitals for unlucky children in Vietnam. 

The programme is expected to bridge the unfortunate children and health clinics and leading specialists in Vietnam and the world as well. 

The programme will kick off on August 15 with Italian doctor Roberto DeCastro’s visit to Vietnam to provide check-ups and treatment for 7-9 children. 

The surgeon, who is one of the world’s leading experts in genital reshaping, will give a talk at Hanoi University of Medicine.

VNN/VOV/VNA/Tuoi Tre