A part of the Nam Suoi Nhum titanium mine in Binh Thuan Province, south-central Vietnam, abruptly collapsed on Saturday, leaving one worker dead and three others missing, local authorities reported the same day.

The deadly collapse occurred at the mine in the province’s Ham Thuan Nam District on Saturday afternoon, burying four workers, who were working at the waste dump, under thousands of cubic meters of sand.

An urgent search for the victim was launched immediately using excavators and other specialized equipment and rescuers found one corpse on Saturday evening.

Duong Van An, secretary of the provincial Party Committee, and Phan Van Dang, vice-chairman of the Binh Thuan administration, came to the scene to direct rescue operations, according to the Vietnam Government Portal. 

Rescuers have continued their efforts to retrieve the three other victims but they reported on Sunday morning that they had yet to find them.

According to a report of local police, the dead worker was Bui Quang Tr., 36, hailing from northern Phu Tho Province, and the missing include Nguyen Van Tr., Huynh Tan Ph. and Nguyen Van N., who are all Binh Thuan residents.

The site where the accident occurred has been planned to be handed over to a project to build a coastal road, local authorities said.

The 515.5ha mine has been operated by Tan Quang Cuong Trading Co. Ltd., a local firm, since 2015 as per a permit granted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) for a mining period of 23 years.

The Binh Thuan administration on Sunday morning issued an urgent dispatch urging the company to mobilize all means available to continue searching for the missing workers and directing agencies concerned, including police, to provide the firm with necessary assistance.

The local government also directed the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment to cooperate with other bodies in requesting the investors of all local mines to strictly comply with mining safety regulations, avoiding similar incidents.  

Six years ago, the MNRE suspended the operation of the mine for three months after one of its pits tumbled down, pushing a large volume of sand and mud down to the residential areas and roads nearby.      

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