MELBOURNE – Hundreds of people have gathered at the steps of Victoria’s parliament house to hold a candlelight vigil for those affected by the mass fish deaths along Vietnam’s central coast.

Huge numbers of dead fish began appearing in the country’s farms and beaches early last month, impacting 200 km of its coastline in four central provinces; Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.

Taiwanese steel plant Formosa has been accused of overseeing a toxic leak, even though Vietnamese authorities found no links between the fish deaths and the company.

This week, the group calling itself the Vietnamese Community in Australia (VCA) sent letters to the Australian government addressing the environmental disaster, which has affected the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families there.

“The Vietnamese government’s reaction to this calamity has been extremely slow, inaccurate and indifferent to massive public concerns on the nation’s staple food supply and the welfare and the livelihood of tens of thousands fishermen and their families affected by this crisis,” the letter said.

“Instead of explaining and informing its people of what(s) going on, Vietnamese government is suppressing information and reacted to the public demands for answers with brute force, and did nothing to stop suspected industrial plans such as Formosa to cease their wastewater operation pending an urgent and thorough investigation.

“Witness accounts described how many people collected large numbers of dead fish and placed them in refrigerated trucks, presumably to sell or making products such as fish sauce out of these contaminated fish.”

The letter in addition, urged the government to deliver concrete action to ‘safeguard the safety and wellbeing of Australians who will be visiting or having business investments in Vietnam’.