The sturgeon farm owner broke down in tears as 30 tons of fish suffocated and died, causing losses worth billions of VND

In recent days, Mr. Quốc Khánh (residing in Lang Biang Ward, Lâm Đồng Province) has barely slept after a major shock when his sturgeon farm was severely flooded by heavy rain, causing more than 30 tons of fish to die en masse. “The losses amount to billions of VND. I am currently carrying a debt of over 1 billion VND invested in the farm. Other shareholders have also borrowed from several hundred million to billions of VND for this investment. For the past two years, we have been waiting for the day to sell this batch of fish to recover our capital, but now it’s all gone. My family could only cry upon hearing the news, and I feel helpless—many nights I can’t sleep, only thinking about how to deal with the dead fish,” Mr. Khánh said emotionally. The incident occurred at noon on April 13, when Mr. Khánh was not at the farm. Thanks to his habit of monitoring the camera system remotely, he noticed that heavy rain caused the water level in the ponds to rise abnormally.

“By the time I rushed back, the water was already deeply flooded and muddy from soil runoff. We tried to handle the situation but couldn’t react in time. By that evening, fish began floating dead on the surface. When we collected and counted them, we were shocked to find the number exceeded 30 tons,” he recalled.Facing such a major loss for the first time, Mr. Khánh shared that he was in shock and nearly speechless. He posted images of the flooded farm and dead fish on social media as a way to share his pain with the community. On April 14, his family organized an emergency sale of the dead fish. While sturgeon normally sells for around 150,000 VND/kg, they accepted prices of only 30,000–50,000 VND/kg to recover part of the losses. In just one day, local residents supported by purchasing about 2 tons of fish, helping the family earn nearly 200 million VND. Although this amount covered only a small portion of the damage, Mr. Khánh expressed deep gratitude for the community’s support.“More than 20 tons of fish remain. We are trying to sell them to buyers in Ho Chi Minh City. So far, we’ve handled about 10 tons, but more than 10 tons are still left, and we don’t know what to do since the fish have been dead for days and may no longer be sellable,” he said.

According to Mr. Khánh, he began sturgeon farming in 2019. With accumulated experience, his farm maintained stable production and regularly supplied significant quantities to the market. To reach commercial standards, sturgeon require about one year of care. However, due to market price fluctuations and competition, his group extended the farming period to two years to wait for better selling conditions. The farm’s operating costs exceed 200 million VND per month. To maintain production, the farm imported around 40,000 juvenile fish at 20,000 VND each, representing a significant initial investment.

“Every day we waited to sell the fish, hoping to recover our capital and effort over such a long time. But before we could, an unexpected disaster struck beyond imagination,” he shared. In the days following the incident, Mr. Khánh has had almost no time to rest. Together with his team, he has been continuously cleaning up the farm, handling the aftermath, and calculating loan options to resume production as soon as possible. “Despite the huge losses, we must try to stand up and start over,” he said in a subdued voice after many sleepless nights.