Manhole death renews concern over ‘street traps’ in Vietnam

Pedestrians in Vietnam may be familiar with ‘traps’ such as improperly covered manholes or tangled electrical wires hanging above pavements as they walk, but the recent death of a man who fell into a sewage hole has refueled fears.

On Saturday, an unidentified man was running to catch a bus when he fell into an uncovered manhole on An Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, according to footage from the surveillance camera of a nearby shop.

As seen in the video footage, the man did not notice the manhole, whose cover had been removed to serve a reconstruction project, as his attention was focused on the bus.

The victim was pronounced dead shortly after he was pulled from the two-meter-deep manhole, caused by the impact of the fall and asphyxiation.

Binh Tan police said on Sunday that no family members or relatives of the victim had showed up to claim his body.

The cover of the manhole the unidentified man fell into had been removed to serve a road reconstruction project developed by the municipal Steering Center of the Urban Flood Control Program, and contracted to a construction firm known as VIC.

Nguyen Ngoc Cong, director of the steering center, said the contractor was to blame for their failure to warn pedestrians of the open sewage.

VIC should have put a fence or warning signs around the construction site, Cong said, adding that police are investigating to determine who will be held responsible for the man’s death.

Earlier this month an eight-year-old boy died of drowning after he was swept away by rainwater into an unfenced sewage hole in the southern province of Binh Duong.

Traps on the streets

It is not uncommon for people in Ho Chi Minh City to see streets unpaved and manhole covers removed for construction projects with no fences or warning signs.

On a street near the Thanh Da apartment building in Binh Thanh District, for example, there is an unfenced manhole that stands 30cm above the road surface. Whenever the street is flooded during heavy rains, locals have been known to put some tree branches around the hole to warn pedestrians.

There are five such uncovered and unfenced manholes on Le Van Viet Street in District 9. The holes, measuring some two meters deep, are in the pavement and pedestrians can easily fall into them even if only slightly distracted.

Similar situations exist on Ta Quang Buu and An Duong Vuong Streets in District 8.

One manhole on An Duong Vuong is carelessly covered with a sheet of steel, which can be washed away during rains, according to locals.

“Even local residents limit their trips outside during rains for fear of falling into manholes,” local Nguyen Thi Phi said.