Three Vietnamese workers have died in Angola in the first months of 2013, taking the death toll since 2012 to 21. All of them had been sent into the country via unofficial or illegal means, the Department for Overseas Labor Management reported. They were among those who had been sent to Angola for work on labor visa through the arrangements of Vietnamese brokers and their foreign partners, not through licensed labor exporters, the department said. Vietnam and Angola have yet to sign any treaty on labor export, Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the department explained. “There are only Vietnamese experts who were sent to Angola to work for projects signed by the governments of Vietnam and Angola.” When arriving in Angola via unofficial methods, many Vietnamese workers did not receive working conditions or salary levels as promised, Quynh said. Therefore, many people had to quit their job and sought other works despite harmful working environments. Moreover, there were many cases in which many workers were not admitted by any company. So they had to seek jobs by themselves and became illegal workers. In addition, they also suffered risks of contracting communicable diseases like malaria or fall victims to robbery or violence.

One of the victims of violene was Le Van Tuan, 27, a native of Nghe An Province who was shot to death in early 2012.

Tuan who was taken to Angola by his uncle to work as a building worker in March 2010. He was killed when he returned to Angola in Janruary 2012 after celebrating Tet (lunar New Year) in Vietnam, said Bui Thi Thu, Tuan's mother. “After arriving in Angola, most Vietnamese workers work for Vietnamese contractors there. Workers can be paid US$800-1,000 per month when there are works for them to do, but their idle time in a year is often long,” Quynh said. Meanwhile, living costs are very high in Angola, especially for medical examination and treatment services. A meal at a cheap restaurant costs about US$70, the official warned. Last year 18 Vietnamese workers died in Angola due to epidemic and industrial accidents, the department reported. The latest death was of Phan Van Son, a native in central Nghe An province who was reported to die in Angola on April 12. His death was the third in the first months of this year. Son was said to be healthy on April 11 night but he was found dead on bed for unknown reasons the next morning.