HANOI — Hundreds of Vietnamese fishermen have filed claims seeking compensation from a Taiwanese steel company that acknowledged its toxic chemicals caused a massive fish kill, a local priest helping the fishermen said Tuesday.
The factory, owned by the Formosa Plastics Group, acknowledged in June that it was responsible for the pollution that killed large numbers of fish off the central Vietnamese coast in April, and pledged to pay US$500 million to clean it up and compensate affected people. The pollution created the country’s worst environmental disaster, devastating the regional fishing and tourism industries, and sparked rare protests in the Communist country.
Catholic priest Dang Huu Nam, who led the group of local fishermen, said 506 petitions have been submitted to a local court in Ky Anh town in central Ha Tinh province where the massive fish kill occurred.
“Based on the fact that Formosa admitted their mistake, based on the Vietnamese laws and the losses suffered by the fishermen, they have submitted their claims and they demand that Formosa be closed and compensate their losses as well as material and health losses they may suffer in the future,” Nam said Tuesday by telephone from the courthouse.
Local court officials were not available for comment.
The priest said many more fishermen are completing their files and he expects more than 100,000 fishermen to file petitions.
He said the fishermen on Monday traveled 200 kilometers in 15 buses to the People’s Court in Ky Anh town which received 199 petitions on Monday and another 307 claims on Tuesday.
Some 5,000 people around Ky Anh town on Monday gathered outside the courthouse to show their support, he said.
Nam said the court now will decide to process their claims or reject them or refer their cases to a higher relevant authority.
Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/foreign-affairs/2016/09/28/479580/Vietnam-fishermen.htm
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