Tin ore leak kills fish in central Vietnam
There are concerns that the affected area might have been enduring lead and arsenic poisoning following the leakage.
Hundreds of kilograms of fish went belly up in a stream in Nghe An Province after a waste pond at a tin ore plant collapsed.
Roughly 12 meters of the storage system ruptured on March 8, leaking nearly 100 cubic meters of mud and wastewater into nearby Nam Huong stream in Quy Hop District, Voice of Vietnam reported on March 12.
Vi Thanh Tuong, vice chairman of Quy Hop, told reporters he had asked Nghe Tinh Nonferrous Metal Company to quickly address the incident in Suoi Bac.
Local authorities have taken samples of the waste from the stream to determine the extent of the contamination.
Fish began dying in the stream on March 10; by March 12, local residents had collected hundreds of kilograms of dead fish.
The leak affected over 300 hectares of rice along the stream, the news site said, adding that residents of Nam Huong may be exposed to lead and arsenic poisoning.
