Vietnam sacks environment official over mass fish kill

A senior Vietnamese environment official has been fired for negligence over a toxic waste dump that killed tons of fish in a major environmental crisis in April 2016, according to officials and state media.

Luong Duy Hanh, director of Vietnam’s Environment Protection Management Department, is the latest official to be punished over the toxic leak, which was blamed on a multibillion dollar steel plant run by the Taiwan firm Formosa.

Formosa was fined $ 500 million for the waste dump and Vietnam has vowed to punish 11 officials over the country’s worst environmental disaster.

“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has carried out disciplinary action by sacking Mr Luong Duy Hanh,” according to an online statement from Vietnam’s environment ministry Tuesday.

State media reported Wednesday that Hanh was sacked because he failed to properly oversee the Formosa project. He was blamed for not “consulting and supervising the implementation of the environmental protection unit during the construction and pilot operation.”

The Formosa steel plant was still under construction at the time of the disaster. Last month the government gave it the green light to operate on a trial basis.

The disaster decimated livelihoods in fishing towns along the central coast, and fishermen continue to stage protests demanding greater compensation.