Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has denied burying any news related to the mass fish deaths that has stretched along the coastline in central Vietnam.

The ministry’s Deputy Minister Nguyen Linh Ngoc told a press conference on Wednesday, an announcement of the official cause to the environmental disaster would be made when the investigation was completed.

“We know people are looking to hear about reasons behind the mass fish deaths in the four central provinces. It is not true to say that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment hides information about the incident,” he was quoted as saying by Vietnamese-language newspaper VN Express.

“We provide what we have. Each announcement should be based on scientific evidence.”

On May 14, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Cong Tac said the authorities had collected sufficient scientific evidence about the causes for the fish deaths and would announce their findings soon.

Since early April, large numbers of dead fish have washed up in the central coastal provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.

It’s not clear what has caused the mass fish deaths, however, previous speculations include an industrial plant dumping toxic waste into the ocean and an abnormal natural phenomenon – commonly known as a red tide – which causes algae in the water to bloom at an accelerated rate.

– TiVi Tuan-san