Speaking with Dantri/Dtinews on June 14, the chairman of Tu Do Commune People's Committee, Bui Van Hieu, said that the incident occurred on June 9 when the Suoi Mu Hydropower Plant discharged water from its reservoir while residents and tourists had not received the information.

"Seven tourists were swimming in the Suoi Mu Spring at that time," the official said. "A local noticed the strong water current coming from upstream where the reservoir was located and called the tourists to run. Two of them managed to reach the shore while five others were swept away by the strong flood. Luckily they were then rescued by some local people."

In a meeting with local authorities, the director of the Suoi Mu Hydropower Company, Nguyen Duc Tan, claimed that they had sent an announcement about their water discharge on a loudspeaker installed at the waterfall some two kilometres away from the place where the tourists stayed. But the tourists might fail to hear due to the far distance.

"That was not a flood water discharge," he said. "We released a smaller amount of water while doing a regular check on some equipment," he said.

The company had sent apologies to the tourists and residents about the incident and promised that it would not happen again.

Local authorities have requested the company to install more loudspeakers along the downstream spring where there are houses and homestay facilities by June 30.

Suoi Mu Hydropower Plant is built on the top of the Mu Waterfall in Suoi Mu Spring with a capacity of 9 MW. There are some homestay facilities along the Suoi Mu Spring and the beautiful natural scenery has attracted lots of tourists.