Gas pipeline explosion injures 34 in northern Vietnam, many severely burnt

A gas pipeline in the South Korean-invested Seojin Auto Co., Ltd. in Bac Ninh province exploded Tuesday, injuring 34 employees, many with severe burns.

At around 9 a.m, a loud explosion on the third floor of a five-storey building shattered many glass doors. Power went out and white gas was released causing people to suffocate.

About 50 people were working in the area at the time, mostly women. The Seojin Auto building is located in Tu Son town.

By 11:20 a.m, 34 victims were taken to the Tu Son Medical Center, about 3 km from the accident site, and later transferred to the Bac Ninh General Hospital. Of these, seven people with severe burns were transferred to a Hanoi hospital.

Police said they were investigating the explosion and trying to determine its cause.

Bac Ninh Chairwoman Nguyen Huong Giang visited the site and called on the victims at the hospital.

Seojin Auto Company is located in the Dai Dong-Hoang Son Industrial Park, about 30 km from downtown Hanoi. The 100% South Korean-invested enterprise specializes in making aluminum molds and aluminum shells for transceivers, assembles mobile phones and manufactures computers, motors, generators and power transformers.

Previously, on July 18, four workers of South Korean MSG and fish sauce maker Miwon Vietnam Co. Ltd. had suffocated to death in the northern province of Phu Tho.

The accident took place in the factory’s boiler area. Three workers were found dead and another two were taken to the hospital, where one more succumbed to asphyxiation.

On June 19, three workers had died from burns following an accident at the Danish-backed ScanCom Vietnam factory in Binh Duong province, southern Vietnam.

A fire broke out inside a wood and sawdust storage facility in Song Than 1 Industrial Park, Di An town. The workers were taken to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment, with three severely burnt transferred to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, where two died on the same day. The third succumbed to injury one day later.