The site where a water tank fell and crushed a stone bench at a primary school in central Vietnam on September 11, 2014. Two boys sitting on the bench were killed and another injured. Photo: Van Duc
A water tank fell off a tower at a primary school in the north central province of Nghe An onto three boys, killing two on Thursday.
Nguyen Tien Phi and Truong Manh Tien were killed instantly in the accident, which occurred during break time at around 2pm.
Ngo Si Hoang was injured.
The 10-year-old boys were sitting on a stone bench when the tank fell.
“The tank fell too fast we had no time to run. My right leg was stuck,” Hoang told Tuoi Tre newspaper.
He said they sat down in the shade to await the school’s lunch hour.
He sat next to his classmate Phi while Tien and their other friends were playing around them.
The bench was crushed after the two-meter metal structure supporting the 2,000-liter tank broke.
When the school teachers and guards rushed over upon hearing the big crash, they saw Hoang screaming in pain next to the lifeless body of his schoolmate.
Vo Thi Thuong, Hoang’s mother arrived to a chaotic scene: “people had crowded outside the school while the children were panicking inside.”
“It’s lucky my son only suffered slight injuries,” Hoang told Tuoi Tre.
Truong Thi Quy, Phi’s grandmother sat devastated as she waited for Phi’s parents to come back from Laos to organize his funeral.
Tran Thanh Son, a relative of the family, said Phi’s father has worked in Laos for several years.
His mother went off there Wednesday night after she finished working in the fields.
She learned of the news midway and immediately rushed back, “only to mourn her son,” the teary Son said.
Dau Xuan Manh, vice chairman of the commune, said the tank was moved to make way for work on the roof of an old house.
It was set atop the iron tower temporarily.
Local authorities are investigating the accident.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
