In central Vietnam, people rush to stockpile salt over toxic seawater fear
In central Vietnam, people rush to stockpile salt over toxic seawater fear
With toxic seawater believed to be the cause of the mysterious mass fish deaths in central Vietnam, locals in Thua Thien-Hue Province are hurriedly stockpiling any salt they can get their hands on.
Many see the move as a necessity, believing that caution should be held in high regard as no one knows if the toxic seawater will one day be turned into salt, according to residents in the provincial capital of Hue.
Hue’s Dong Ba Market was packed with salt buyers on Thursday morning, with vendors admitting they had never seen the mineral selling so well.
Hundreds of worried buyers stood in line to purchase bags of white or iodized salt, with many pushing their way to the front in fear that they would soon run out of stock on the now-precious mineral.
When it was finally her turn, Nguyen Thi Mai hurriedly put some banknotes into the hands of the vendor and quickly left the store with two 5kg bags of salt.
“I heard that the sea was contaminated, causing fish to die en masse, meaning the salt may be toxic too,” Mai said.
In the meantime, Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh braved a small crowd of customers to be able to buy 5kg of white salt.
“I saw people rush to buy salt so I followed suit,” she said.
At 10:30 am, Nguyen Thi Kieu Nhu upset the line in front of her salt booth by announcing that she had run out of stock. She had managed to sell more than 500kg of white salt in just a few hours that morning.
“This is not to mention dozens of 500-gram bags of iodized salt, which were also selling like hot cakes,” the vendor added. “Why were people jostling to buy salt today?”
A similar ‘salt rush’ was observed at most markets across the city on Thursday.
The province’s market surveillance agency, after being notified of the phenomenon by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, said it would look into the issue on Friday morning.
Nearly a month after fish began dying en masse and washing ashore on several beaches in such central Vietnamese provinces as Thua Thien-Hue, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Quang Binh, there has yet to be any official conclusion on the cause behind the mysterious deaths.
The mass fish deaths have heavily affected fishermen as well as fish traders, and local consumers have begun to think twice before choosing the aquatic products for their daily meals.
In a press meeting on Wednesday, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said there are two possible causes for the mass fish deaths, either toxic discharge caused by humans or “red tide,” when algae blooming at an abnormal rate produce toxins.
The ministry also denied an alleged link between the wastewater treatment system at the steelmaking plant of Taiwan’s Formosa in Ha Tinh and the fish deaths.
