Cannonball incident in Hue: Expired cannon used

Regarding the incident of a cannon falling into the audience area organized by the Hue Monuments Conservation Center on the evening of May 3, as reported by CAND Newspaper; on May 13, Hue City authorities are continuing to verify to clarify responsibilities.

According to the report of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City just sent to the People's Committee of Hue City, the cannon fire show was organized by the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, hired by Viet Giang Company to perform. The type of firework used was "Dark yellow or red Z-shaped fire dragon F30", belonging to the "Fire tube" group produced by 21 Chemical Company Limited. This type of firework is not in the group of firecrackers or fireworks.

The fireworks fell on the audience area.

However, during the test firing at Hue Flag Tower, some fireworks went off course, were in a state of red fire and fell into a crowded area near Phu Van Lau. The incident caused the audience, including many children, to panic and run away in the smoke and explosion, creating a chaotic situation and posing a serious safety risk.

Hue City Department of Culture and Sports assessed: "This event, which was supposed to honor tradition, turned into a dangerous situation, causing panic among residents and tourists." At the same time, Hue City Department of Culture and Sports requested the organizer to provide documents proving the origin and technical characteristics of the fireworks used in the program to serve the verification work of Hue City Police.

Following the direction of the Chairman of Hue City People's Committee, to verify and clarify the information reported by the press about the organization of the cannon firing on the evening of May 3, the Department of Culture and Sports in coordination with professional units of Hue City Police has just organized a working session with the Hue Monuments Conservation Center. Viet Giang Company Limited - the unit in charge of the program's technical aspects also attended this meeting.

The fireworks fell on the audience area.

Here, Viet Giang Company Limited has reported and explained the incident related to the pyrotechnic effect on the evening of May 3.

According to the explanation, the incident originated from the pyrotechnic effect not meeting technical requirements because the company had not yet implemented the plan to order specialized materials Z21. Instead, the technical staff arbitrarily used 58 "fire dragon" pyrotechnic tubes left over from the Hue Traditional Craft Festival 2023. These tubes were water-permeated, causing moisture and not burning due to the installation time being exposed to wind and rain and had expired, leading to poor quality.

It is worth mentioning that, according to the records from the National Bidding Network of the Ministry of Finance , on April 22, Mr. Hoang Viet Trung, Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, signed a decision approving the plan to select a contractor for the estimated cost: Providing cannon performance services every Saturday to serve the National Tourism Year - Hue 2025.

Accordingly, this is a shortened bidding package with a price of nearly 238 million VND, from the revenue from visiting relics in 2025 of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, with an implementation period of 9 months.

On April 23, Mr. Trung signed a decision approving the appointment of Viet Giang Technology Company Limited to win the bid with the bid price (including VAT). The approval of the bid appointment is based on the Valuation Certificate No. 258/2025/516-DS dated March 19 of Ben Thanh Valuation Company Limited - Hanoi.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Tieu-diem-van-hoa/su-co-ban-hoa-phao-than-cong-o-hue-phao-duoc-dung-da-het-han-su-dung-i768171/