[Straits Times] A VIETNAMESE worker and two colleagues who went to his aid suffocated to death inside a vat of fish sauce, police and news reports said on Monday. This is the fabled nuoc mam of the heady days of my youth. Very tasty, once you get used to the smell...
| Much more interesting than plain soy sauce. Not usually as interesting as this particular batch, however. |
Cam Ranh didn't have any nuoc mam plants when I was there. I believe it consisted of about 125 buildings, of which 75 were engaged in a single industry...
One worker got into trouble after climbing in to fix a pipe, prompting his co-workers to try to rescue him, the Nong Nghiep (Agriculture) Vietnam newspaper reported.
"Hey! Get down from there!"
"Whu- whu- whoops! [SPLASH!][Swooooon!]
"Hang on, Nguyen! We're comin'! [SPLASH!][Swooooon!]
All three died on the spot, it said.
[gurgle]
Police were still investigating the deaths, the policeman told AFP.
"Oh, how could this ever have happened?"
"I dunno, Inspector."
Vietnamese fish sauce, a widely-used condiment, is made from a mix of anchovies and salt which is left to distil for more than a year in three-metre-high (10-feet-high) wooden vats.
That's how it happened, alright.