VietNamNet Bridge – On Sunday morning, seven students in the northern province of Lai Chau were swept away while crossing the Nam Mu River on their way to school. Six were rescued and one remains missing. Local authorities claim that the incident was caused by an unscheduled water discharge from a nearby hydropower plant.

The site where the seven students were swept away, nearly 30km from the Ban Chat hydro-power plant.

Mr. Lo Van Xuong, Chair of Ta Gia Commune in Than Uyen District, says that at around 10am, seven elementary students waded across the nearly dry riverbed of Nam Mu. Upon reaching the halfway point, a rush of water from upstream suddenly descended on them, catching them by surprise and sweeping them away. Six children were rescued and one went missing.

The students are from Noong Quoai Village. They are usually accompanied across the river by their parents or teachers, but on Sunday they waded through it alone because the water level was very low, Xuong says.

The local government has mobilized search and rescue forces to find the missing child. The Ban Chat hydropower plant, which is located upstream of the river, stopped power generation to aid in the search and rescue activities. However, by Tuesday, April 15, the missing child, a 4th grader, had still not been found.

Noong Quoai Vilalge is located on the banks of the Nam Mu River, over 8km from the commune center. The students are Hmong ethnic people and they lived at the boarding school. The accident occurred when the children were returning to school from home to begin a new school week.

Xuong says the seven kids were swept away because the Ban Chat power plant unexpectedly discharged water.

"Currently Ban Chat hydropower has stopped generating power so at the deepest points of the Nam Mu River, the water level is only 50-60cm. More than 200 people are still searching for the missing student," Xuong says.

According to Xuong, the power plant usually discharges water at 7am, and it is at about 8.30am that the flow reaches the site where the children were swept away. But on Sunday, “the power plant suddenly changed the water discharge time. Many locals were unaware of it, especially children, so they waded through the riverbed at about 10am when the water level was very low and were suddenly swept away by big onrush."

However, Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted Mr. Dang Viet Thang, Director of the Ban Chat Hydropower Plant, as saying that the incident was not caused by his plant. That day the plant did not change its time of power generation. Mr. Ha Trong Hai, Vice Chairman of Than Uyen District, also confirmed that the power plant operated on its usual schedule that day.

Since 2006, Than Uyen District has been committed to building a suspension bridge across the river, but this project has yet to be implemented.

Le Ha