Chinese Worker Will Face Murder Charges in China, Bangladeshi Official Says

A worker at a Chinese-financed power plant in Bangladesh will be sent back to China to stand trial after he allegedly killed his roommate during a fight over noodles, officials said Tuesday, in the second deadly violent incident among employees at the facility this year.

Sang Zeyang, an employee at the Payra power plant in the south-central district of Patuakhali, allegedly stabbed and killed fellow Chinese national Feng Lue Jun on Saturday, police said.

“To deal with the murder of a Chinese worker by another Chinese worker, we have agreed to hand over the [alleged] killer, Sang, to the Chinese authorities for trial in China,” Mohammad Hossain, director-general of the government’s power-cell division, told BenarNews.

“We want him to be tried in China. Why should we bear the burden of a Chinese worker’s murder by another Chinese worker?” Hossain said. “We’ve been told that some Chinese police officers would arrive in Bangladesh soon to take him to China for trial.”

Sang had admitted to stabbing Feng in the chest with a 9-inch kitchen knife when the roommates argued over cooked noodles during dinner, district police chief Mainul Hasan told BenarNews, citing a police report.

“They were preparing to eat cooked noodles. They quarrelled when cooked noodles fell on the floor,” Hasan said.

Co-workers rushed Feng to the local hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, Hasan said. Police immediately arrested and detained the suspect, he said.

In June, authorities placed thousands of the plant’s workers on a two-week leave pending an investigation into unrest that led to the death of a Chinese worker.

Hundreds of police were called to the coal-fired power plant when a brawl broke out between Chinese and Bangladeshi workers, leaving a Chinese worker dead and at least seven others injured.

Violence erupted after a Bangladeshi worker fell from a terrace, leading to rumors that a Chinese national had pushed him and later tried to cover up the death, a local police official said at the time.

The project, about 200 km (125 miles) south of the capital, is estimated to cost about U.S. $2-billion. At least 10,000 Bangladeshis and about 3,000 Chinese nationals work at the plant, which is scheduled to go into production next month, officials said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated the 1,320-megawatt power plant with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Oct. 14, 2016.

China is a close ally of Bangladesh, where private Chinese firms and state-run companies have invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.