Hanoi authorities have been urged to speed up their investigation into a case of child sexual abuse involving seven children.

The demands follow multiple media reports that stirred up public outrage on social media and prompted the government to step in.

Vietnam’s president Tran Dai Quang has ordered top police and prosecutors to properly handle the case and report back to the central government within March.

In August last year, police in the southern beach town of Vung Tau opened a criminal case after seven families at an apartment building filed complaints that a 76-year-old male neighbour had molested their daughters many times, allegedly since 2012.

In recent weeks several media reports have described the legal proceedings as slow with no strong legal action.

According to official figures released a year ago, more than 8,200 cases of child abuse came to light between 2011 and 2015 in Vietnam – 5,300 of those cases related to sexual abuse.

– with other agencies