PHNOM PENH: Cambodian and Vietnamese police are jointly investigating the case where more than 40 Vietnamese made a dash for freedom and swam across a river separating the two nations.
The Vietnamese said they were working in almost slave-like conditions in a casino and escape was their only option.
According to the Phnom Penh Post, Kandal province governor Kong Sophorn said they fled a casino in Chrey Thom commune, due to labour dispute and police were looking into whether they were legally employed.
Several staff members have been detained for questioning following the incident, which drew widespread attention.
"Swimming across the border is not a huge offence, but we want to understand the nature of the employment dispute. We have very progressive labour laws here in Cambodia, and we may be able to seek justice for them," he said.
Sophorn said two security guards from the casino were treated for injuries suffered when they tried to stop the employees from leaving.
Interior minister Sar Kheng, who also serves as chairman of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT), said initial findings show that the Vietnamese were promised higher salaries and it was also believed that some of them were working illegally.
"It appears that some of the Vietnamese employees remained at the casino, and we will be speaking to them. We are also checking relevant work permits and paperwork," he added.
The Post also reports that Am Sam Ath, deputy director of rights group LICADHO, voiced concern over human trafficking in Cambodia.
"Recently we have seen international media outlets and international institutions publishing reports regarding human trafficking issues in the Kingdom, especially online labour exploitation."
He said Cambodia needed to enforce anti-trafficking laws, or Cambodia's image may be marred on the international stage.
"We support a crackdown and an end to every single case of trafficking, but we have to go further and strengthen mechanisms to curb it altogether. The law must be enforced regardless of a person's rank or position," he added.
It is said that the Vietnamese planned the escape over two nights, making their move in the morning when the casino's gates were open and there were only seven or eight managers on duty.
According to Vietnamese daily Vn Express, the group ran toward the doors at about 10am and the guards there were attacked to create an opening for the women to escape. Another group of young men was at the back, throwing Molotov cocktails at the guards.
The guards were taken by surprise at first, but it took just a minute for some "muscular" men to show up with iron rods and chase after the Vietnamese.
The report said one of them was caught while the rest jumped into the river. Some of them did not know how to swim and one drowned during the escape.
The body of the 16-year-old boy was found in a river section of An Giang in An Phu District in Vietnam.
The others helped each other and they managed to reach the Long Binh border guard station in Vietnam. Eleven others were caught by the casino guards before they could dive into the river.
Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since asked Cambodian authorities to help investigate the case.
Meanwhile, the Khmer Times reports Immigration Department spokesman General Keo Vannthan saying that they detained the casino's manager for questioning.
He said the Chinese casino manager had admitted to forcing the workers to work against their will but claimed that the escapees owed the company money.
"We also questioned the 11 Vietnamese and they said the reason they ran away was that they had a dispute with the casino manager over non-compliance with their contracts."
All will be deported as he said none of them have a passport.
Meanwhile, one of the escapees, Doan Thi Ngoc Diep, told the Vn Express that the casino from which she and others escaped was hellish.
"It was hell. We were tricked and sold to Cambodia," Diep said of her four months at the casino.
The woman from the northern Cao Bang Province said she and her husband looked for job advertisements on Facebook, and found one that promised VND25 million (US$1,070) a month.
"The brokers said it was a computer job in air-conditioned rooms."
The couple was attracted by the money, which was four times what their previous job paid, and packed their bags and took a bus as the brokers instructed.
Diep said they travelled for three days and switched buses five times before they reached Cambodia.
Cambodia has seen numerous cases of foreigners being tricked into working in illegal syndicates, mostly in Kandal and Sihanoukville provinces.
Scammers offer victims – Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, and most recently Vietnamese – high salaries and other lucrative job benefits to hook them. Most are said to have ended up working with syndicates that carried out phone scams.