A rescue team was quickly deployed on June 6 to save five men stuck in the middle of the Đồng Nai River in Lâm Đồng Province. —   VNA\VNS Photo

LÂM ĐỒNG —   Five men were rescued from the Đồng Nai River in Lâm Đồng Province on June 6 after a hydropower plant discharged water into the river unannounced.

The People’s Committee of Đinh Trang Thượng Commune in Di Linh District said on June 7 it had worked with the police and other authorities to rescue the five, who were stuck on a large boulder in the middle of the fast flowing river after the Đồng Nai 2 plant released water.

At around 01:30pm on June 6 a group of people went to swim in river.

At 3pm three people left and the five men, aged 18 to 22, stayed back.

At 4:10pm the plant opened its floodgates, sending a huge volume of water gushing downstream.

The men were unable to swim back to shore and had to seek refuge on the boulder.

But with the water level rising rapidly, they were in great danger of being swept away.

K’Đô, chairman of Đinh Trang Thượng Commune, said that when the threat was discovered, the People’s Committee quickly called the power plant and urged it to close the gates.

A rescue team comprising police, military and local officials began efforts to rescue the men from the river.

At around 8pm they used rescue ropes and life vests and safely brought them to shore.

According to the commune, it did not receive any notification from the hydropower plant and so could not warn the public in advance.

The Đồng Nai River, around 586km long, passes through Lâm Đồng, Đăk Nông, Bình Phước, and Đồng Nai provinces and HCM City, and has several hydropower plants built along it.

When a hydropower dam has too much water, due to heavy rains, to ensure safety it opens its floodgates and discharges some of the water. —   VNS