People looking for tombs under mud.
The volume of mud was estimated at nearly 1,000 cubic meters, equivalent to forty big trucks, and buryied nearly 100 tombs. The deepest spot was up to four meters.
According to local residents, big trucks dumped the large volume of mud on the night of August 21. They urgently reported the dumping to local authorities and people who have relatives resting in tombs located in the area.
Local authorities paid 100 million dong ($5000) to hire workers to collect the mud.
“I’m very anguished but I can’t do anything, so I’m just waiting for the local authorities. I have to take care of the mud cleaning every day. I’m very worried that my family’s four tombs will collapse,” said Dang Ba Hai, whose father, adoptive father, and three relatives’ tombs were buried by mud.
According to Hai and other locals, the mud came from a construction site in a nearby residential area.
“Mud and construction waste has been dumped illegally in this area four times before, but this time is by far the biggest,” Hai said.
Nguyen Xuan Ben, a worker who collected the mud, said: “The mud was from drilling holes in high-rise buildings.”
He said that most of the affected tombs are fragile, so workers had to collect mud manually and very carefully to make sure the tombs did not collapse.
“The act is both illegal and immoral. My family also has one tomb buried in mud,” said Trinh Nhu Ha, vice chairman of Duong Noi ward.
Local residents were very worried that they may lose their relatives’ tombs.
The Dong Trua cemetery has been located in Y La village for almost 20 years. Many high-rise buildings and new residential areas now surround the building.
Hanoi chairman Nguyen The Thao asked the relevant agencies to investigate and harshly punish individuals and organizations that were involved in the incident.
Though Hanoi has set up five areas for discharging mud, soil, and construction waste in Dong Anh and Thanh Tri districts, many developers illegally discharged construction waste at areas that are deserted at night, creating environmental pollution.
According to Decree 117, those found illegally dumping construction waste of 500 cubic meters or more must pay fines from 150 to 200 million dong ($7,000-10,000).
The Hanoi Environment Department joined to investigate the case. According to them, there are 41 construction projects in Ha Dong district, including three big projects in Duong Noi ward. However, only two projects had drilling holes, which discharged large volumes of mud and soil.
Police collected samples of mud at Dong Trua cemetery to compare with mud from other construction sites. They found the culprit and arrested a group of truck drivers on August 28 and 29. However, the names of these people have not been disclosed.
At the moment, the mud at Dong Trua Cemetery has not been cleaned up yet. At noon on August 29, dozens of people were still “swamped” in a mountain of mud seeking for the tombs of their relatives. By the morning of August 29th, only four families found their relatives’ tombs.
“We couldn’t sleep since our relatives’ tombs were buried,” said a man whose relatives’ tombs are buried at the cemetery.