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Vietnamese dies in attempt to escape from detention

A Vietnamese man died on Thursday after falling from the ninth floor of a Taipei City Police Headquarters' temporary detention center for illegal foreign immigrants awaiting repatriation, police said yesterday.

The man, identified as Nguyen Ngoc Trong, came to Taiwan in June 2003 to work aboard a fishing boat in Kaohsiung.

He fled his fishery job about a year ago. He was picked up at the Taipei Main Station on Aug. 23 and sent to the detention center the same day.

In the early hours of Thursday, the 39-year-old man was spotted on closed-circuit TV trying to escape the detention center by using a rope made from torn bed sheets to climb from a ninth-story window.

Fall

Nguyen's make-shift rope, however, only reached to the seventh floor.

While the security guard was reporting the situation to on-duty police officers, Nguyen lost grip of the bed sheet and fell to the ground.

Firefighters rushed him to nearby Mackay Memorial Hospital. He died later that day.

Police said Nguyen's escape attempt might have arisen from a fear of his imminent repatriation.

The Taipei City Police Headquarters' supervisory and foreign affairs departments have opened investigations into Nguyen's death to determine whether anyone should be held responsible for the incident.

Increase supervision

City police authorities said they will cooperate with the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei in arranging the return of Nguyen's body to Vietnam.

The police said they will work to improve internal management and supervision at the detention center to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy.
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