Twenty-seven months have passed since a restaurant boat run by Din Ky sank in a stretch of the Saigon River in Binh Duong province, killing 16 people, but the case has been suspended and no culprits have ever been indicted. The terrible accident occurred on May 20, 2011 when 16 people, including five children and six women, drowned when the two-storey boat, owned by the Din Ky Tourism Company, sank.

The boat  was carrying an estimated 26 passengers attending a birthday party of a three-year-old son of a Chinese entrepreneur, Guo Liangcai.

Guo was among the survivors, but eight members of his family, including the three-year-old-boy, his wife and his daughter died.  The following day police launched an investigation into the accident that revealed serious mismanagement in the boat’s operations, but their investigation has been suspended since May 30, 2012.Tuoi Tre recently returned to the province’s Thu Dau Mot District to find a possible answer to the question of why the investigation was suspended.  According to records kept at the provincial People’s Procuracy, provincial police arrested Nguyen Van Duc, the boat’s pilot, and Lao Van Quang, a manager at the restaurant, for investigation on May 21, 2011, one day after the deadly accident.Two defendants walking free On May 29, 2011 the police’s decision to prosecute the two was ratified by the Procuracy. Accordingly, Duc was charged with violating regulations on controlling means of waterway traffic and causing serious consequences, while Quang was indicted for assigning an unqualified person to control a means of waterway traffic. The Procuracy twice extended the investigation and the detention warrants on the two defendants. However, the investigation was still not completed after the last extension, and on May 30, 2011, the police issued a decision to suspend the case and free both Duc and Quang. According to the records, the two men are living in Vinh Phu Ward, Than An District, and are not banned from leaving their residences, said Captain Dang Hoang Dinh, head of a police team at the provincial Police Department. When asked about a possible circumstance in which the men could flee before police can re-investigate the case, the officer said, “When a re-investigation into the case is made, we will summon the two men. If they hide, they will be put on a wanted list.” Tuoi Tre was unable to find Duc at his reported home address, but learned that Qang had been re-hired by Din Ky as a manager at the Din Ky Thuan An restaurant. However, when our correspondents suggested talking with him, he said he was on his way to his hometown and did not say when he would be back.Waiting for China’s coordination  Both the Binh Duong police and procurary have said they are waiting to coordinate with China, and that is why the investigation has been suspended for so long. Colonel Tran Van Chinh, deputy head of the investigation agency of the provincial Police Department, said that the 16 dead victims included four Chinese nationals, Jiang Li, Zhuo Ying Hua, Guo De Cai and Guo Dong Hui. As Din Ky failed to reach an agreement with the families of the four victims, on December 26, 2011, the police asked the Supreme People’s Procuracy to send a request of judicial mandate to the Chinese Supreme People’s Procuracy in relation to the civil claims in the criminal case. However, the Vietnamese investigation agency is still waiting for the result of the judicial mandate from Chinese Supreme People’s Procuracy. It was not until August 27, 2012, i.e. nearly three months after the police suspended the case, that the police received a facsimile copy of the results of judicial mandate for only Jiang Li and Zhuo Ying. But since the results were a facsimile document, they have no legal validity, Chinh said. “Therefore, the investigation into the case will be restored after we receive valid judicial mandates in due form for all the Chinese victims,” Chinh said. When asked why they have not separated the unsettled civil claims into another case so the criminal aspects can be taken to trial, Chinh said this would not be a good move, since in addition to their civil claims, the victims’ relatives can propose criminal treatments towards the defendants. Nguyen Van Nhieu, deputy head of the provincial prosecutor’s office, confirmed with Tuoi Tre that such a separation is lawful, but the proceeding agencies share a common view that they will await the results of the judicial mandate from China. “We can affirm that the case will be tried as soon as possible, but we cannot say exactly when that will be,” Nhieu said. Meanwhile, lawyer Bui Quang Nghiem, from the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, said that under Article 28 of the 2003 Criminal Procedure Code, the settlement of civil matters in criminal cases shall be carried out together with the settlement of criminal cases. Where a criminal case involves compensation or indemnification that cannot be proved and does not affect the settlement of the criminal case, such civil matters may be separated and settled according to civil procedures, he said.