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Vietnam railway authority chief found dead at work

Vietnam railway authority chief found dead at work

Friday, January 23, 2015, 10:30 GMT+7

Vietnamese police are investigating the death of the head of the Vietnam Railway Authority (VRA), Nguyen Huu Thang, who was found dead for an unknown reason in his office in Hanoi on Thursday afternoon.

>> An audio version of the story is available here

>> Vietnam railways chief suspended for inappropriate speech No statement about the cause has been released and the Ministry of Transport, which governs the VRA, has yet to issue any official report about the death.   A VRA employee discovered Thang’s death in the late afternoon, a ministry source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday evening. Hanoi police were later deployed to the ministry’s head office, at 80 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hoan Kiem District, where the VRA is based, to examine the scene. At 9:35 pm yesterday, an ambulance arrived at the head office and left five minutes later. At 9:50 pm, another ambulance arrived and entered the premises. It also left the head office soon after. At 11:00 pm a car with a signboard saying “funeral house” came and it reportedly carried Thang’s body and several people out of the head office 30 minutes later, according to news website VnExpress. According to the ministry source, Thang attended a meeting held by the transport ministry on Thursday morning on calling for private businesses to invest in railway projects. The VRA chief, who was scheduled to retire this year, delivered a report on that agenda at the meeting, which was chaired by Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang, according to VnExpress. On April 25, 2014, Minister Thang suspended Thang from his post for 15 days for his "irresponsible statements" to local media about a rise of US$339 million in construction costs for the Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway project in the Vietnamese capital. Work started on the project in 2011 with an approved investment capital of $552 million, $419 million of which came from China’s official development aid. It was planned to begin operations in June 2015. However, the progress of the project has failed to meet its schedule due to problems in land clearance and the ineffectiveness of the project’s management board. The tardiness caused the cost to go up from $552 million to $891 million. Speaking to the media about this issue, the VRA chief said, “I have done my best. Look at other projects such as railway line No. 3 connecting Nhon and the Hanoi Railway Station. It has broken ground two times, but it has yet to make any progress so far. We have done much and received no praise, but when we just made a bit of adjustment, people are making a fuss about it.” It was due to this statement that Thang was given the 15-day suspension. Minister Thang also demanded the VRA head review his personal responsibility related to the tardy project. In May 2014, the minister leveled strong criticism at the VRA leader following his "irresponsible statements."

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