Worker Deaths

Two Vietnamese sand-dredging workers died of poisoning in Koh Kong province after inhaling toxic paint fumes while working in a ship’s cabin on Tuesday, local police said. Son Sen, the Koh Kong police chief in charge of penal cases, said police and doctors had investigated the incident and concluded that victims Pham Van Tung, 26, and Ding Thay Deang, 28, died after working in the airless confines of a dredging ship. “After investigating the case, police and doctors said the two Vietnamese ... died from poisonous paint fumes and a lack of oxygen,” he said. “The ships that operate in the Bat Salang area in Koh Kong are stuffy, and there is no fresh air to breathe, so I appeal to all workers to look after their safety first,” he said. Witnesses said the victims were working in the ship an hour prior to their deaths, and were sent to the hospital after their co-workers saw them lie down on the ground in a faint. Both men died immediately upon reaching the hospital. One witness, Kon Sanem, 35, said the dredging company, which he did not name, sent the bodies of the two men back to Vietnam.