Local authorities said the May 7 accident remains under investigation after the company reported it to police.
GIA LAI, Vietnam — A 34-year-old rubber plant worker died May 7 after being pulled into a latex grinding machine at Chanh Tay Gia Lai Joint Stock Company in Bau Can commune, local officials said as police investigated the workplace accident.
The worker was identified in local and international reports as Ro Mah J., a Gia Lai resident born in 1992. The accident drew wider attention after surveillance footage from the plant spread online, but officials have released few findings. The main questions now center on how the machine was operating, what safety steps were in place and whether any rule or equipment failure contributed to the death.
Local reports said Ro arrived for work around 6 a.m. at the company’s rubber latex processing site in Bau Can commune. He was working near a machine used to grind rubber latex when the accident happened. Footage described by news outlets showed him feeding or scraping material toward the grinder before he was pulled into the machine. Some reports said a tool he was using appeared to become stuck. Others described him standing on or near the grinder before falling or being pulled inside. Officials have not publicly settled those differences. Nguyen Quang Trung, chairman of the Bau Can Commune People’s Committee, said local authorities visited the family to “offer condolences” and help with funeral costs.
The plant was identified as a facility of Chanh Tay Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, a business involved in rubber latex processing in Gia Lai province. Vietnamese reports placed the factory in Bau Can commune, with several identifying the site as in Binh Giao village. Ro was reported to live in Ia Dom commune. The accident happened during the morning shift, when workers were handling latex for processing. Local reports said company leaders went to police after the incident to report what had happened. Police and local officials then began reviewing the scene, the camera footage and the circumstances of the operation. No public report had named another injured worker, and no official statement had announced a completed finding on the cause.
Rubber latex processing often uses heavy rotating machinery to break down, mix or move raw material before later stages of production. In this case, the equipment was described locally as a rubber latex grinder, while some foreign reports called it a large industrial shredder. The distinction matters because the investigation is expected to focus on the machine at the plant, the work being performed and whether the worker had a safe way to clear, push or feed material into it. Local reports said the machine was active when Ro was drawn in. They did not state whether emergency stop equipment, guards or lockout steps were in use at the time.
Gia Lai provincial police are coordinating with Bau Can commune police and other relevant agencies to clarify the cause of the death. Local reports said investigators were reviewing the accident as a workplace incident at the rubber processing factory. There was no public announcement by May 11 that charges had been filed, that the company had been fined or that any official had reached a final conclusion. Authorities also had not released a detailed workplace safety record for the site. The company’s publicly reported response was limited to notifying police after the accident. Any next step is likely to come through the police review or a local administrative finding on labor safety at the plant.
The video’s spread turned a local factory death into an international story, but the clearest record still comes from officials in Gia Lai and Vietnamese local media. Witnesses were not named in the initial reports. Several outlets described distress at the scene after the machine pulled the worker in, but no full witness account had been released. The local government’s response focused on the family and the formal investigation. Trung said commune officials went to the home after the accident to console relatives and provide support for funeral arrangements. Reports did not give details about Ro’s family, his length of employment or whether he had been assigned to that machine before May 7.
The accident remained under investigation May 11. Police had not announced a final cause, and local officials had not released a date for the next public update. The case now rests with Gia Lai authorities reviewing the plant, the machine and the moments before Ro’s death.
Author note: Last updated May 11, 2026.