News Digest

14 killed and 28 injured after packed scaffolding collapses in Vietnam

At least 14 people have been killed and 28 others injured after scaffolding collapsed at a building site in central Vietnam on Friday. Hundreds of police and rescue workers are still searching through the rubble from the accident in Ha Tinh province. It is not known if other workers were trapped in the rubble, said the deputy police chief in the province, Bui Dinh Quang. All of the victims were Vietnamese subcontractors hired to work on a seaport breakwater project, he said.

I quickly grabbed an iron bar but fell free. People were screaming, calling for help from the rubble. I was very lucky to survive.

Survivor Dinh Ninh Dan

An investigation into the cause of the collapse is under way. Survivor Dinh Ninh Dan said the workers were cleaning a frame for a giant concrete block for the breakwater when the collapse happened. There were more than 40 workers on the scaffolding at the time. The 27-year-old said nearly an hour after they started work the scaffolding shook twice.  The Son Duong seaport where the accident happened is part of the Vung Ang economic zone where Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corporation is building a multi-billion dollar steel complex.