Crane crushes its driver to death

A crane fell and killed its driver in Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday.

Dang Van Quang, 24, of Nghe An Province, lost control of the crane while maneuvering it. The 50-meter jib of the crane fell from a height of 45 meters, crushing him to death in the cabin.

There were six other workers around the vehicle and one of them was critically injured.

One of them said the crane had been operating normally but when it was turned in a different direction, it suddenly crashed.

An investigator said the crane was too high, too long and carrying heavy concrete blocks.

Vietnam Trading Engineering Construction Joint Stock Corporation under the Ministry of Transport is investing in the construction project.

Police are investigating further.

Southern fire torches eight buses at station

A fire at a bus station in the southern province of Dong Nai reduced eight buses and a motorbike to ashes, early Thursday.

Ly Chanh Cuong, a guard at the Bien Hoa Bus Station, said he saw smoke pouring out of one of the passenger buses at around 1 a.m.

The fire quickly spread to seven adjacent buses and a motorbike belonging to one of the guards.

Dong Nai fire fighters responded to the scene ten minutes after the initial blaze broke out. It took them two hours to contain the flames.

Two luxury cars worth several billion dong were parked near the inferno, but guards managed to smash the windows and push them out of the station before they could be destroyed by the fire.

Police attributed the blaze to an electrical malfunction on the first bus.

Huynh Tan Dat, director of the station, said no one was injured by the flames but the fire caused roughly VND2 billion (US$102,500) worth of property damage.

Police demoted, gangsters caught

The police department in the southern province of Dong Nai on Wednesday punished 14 officers for their involvement in a local gang that was busted recently.

Senior lieutenant colonel Nguyen Thanh Long was dismissed from his position as chief of the Bien Hoa police, one investigator was demoted and 12 others were reprimanded, said colonel Nguyen Xuan Kim, deputy director of Dong Nai police department. Bien Hoa is the capital city of Dong Nai Province.

The punished officers made errors when dealing with the gang which organized gambling rackets, was involved in murders and loan shark operations.

Colonel Kim said the officers didn’t fulfill their responsibility in responding to residents’ accusations against the gang.

Some of the officers had also tried to protect several other gangs in the area, he said.

In related news, police in the northern city of Hai Phong on Tuesday arrested three suspects in a gun fight in December. They seized a hand gun and a bullet.

The arrested youth were Bui Quang Vinh, 21, an ex-con with six previous offences; Nguyen Van Hoang, 22; and Nguyen Hoang Nam, 26, all locals.

According to police report, on December 11, Vinh brought around 20 men to “solve” a conflict with the brother of Doan Duc Chien, 20. The brother was not home, so they assaulted Chien instead.

Chien wanted revenge. In the second fight, Vinh’s group brought knives and a gun, which was fired during the fighting, police said.

Vietnam cracks down on ore smugglers

Authorities in Ha Giang Province bordering China have banned three companies from carrying raw ores across the border.

The companies include Nhat Anh, which was caught smuggling lead ores, Duc Son smuggling iron ores, and Ban Mai smuggling manganese ores.

Local authorities said illegal smuggling of raw minerals from the northern mountainous province has increased recently.

Residents in the province said they have seen tens of trucks every week carrying ores from mines along the border to sell across Xin Cai and Pho Bang border gates.

Some trucks even transport ores from mines located further inside the province. They are protected by officials and manage to reach the border, the residents said.

Further investigations into the smuggling are going on.

Blaze causes loss of nearly $360,000 in Mekong Delta

A big fire burned down the storage of a sewing company in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on Saturday (January 8), causing losses of more than VND7 billion (US$359,066).

About 60 workers were in the premises of My An Sewing Export Ltd., Co. when the fire started, witnesses said.

A worker noticed smoke rising from the cloth storage area. People tried to extinguish the fire, but it spread fast and furious, workers said.

It took more than 200 firefighters of the provincial firefighting and prevention division together with local police to put it out after more than three hours.

Related agencies are investigating the cause of the fire.

Nearly $360,000 assigned to protect northern national park

Authorities in the northern Vietnamese province of Quang Ninh Wednesday announced a VND7 billion (US$ 359,066) project to protect and develop forests in a national park.

The project, which includes growing 320 hectares of new forests by 2015, will cover more than 5,980 hectares of land on islands in Bai Tu Long National Park.

A forest protection station will be developed to protect the park’s biodiversity, and gene sources of rare plants and animals.

The project will create an environment for scientific research in forestry and animals as well.

PV