The scene where the truck overturned, claiming 10 lives and injuring 4.

Earlier, his subordinate Nguyen Kim Hung has also been held for his involvement in the smuggling.

According to investigators, on December 6, Thang asked Hung to “examine” the truck for him.

On December 7, Thang fortunately survived the accident and crept out of the truck before getting on a black Ford car which headed towards the Nga Mi Forest Management Center in Tuong Duong Commune where he later hid.

Two days later, however, Thang showed up at the police station and wrote a report about the case.

When he finished the report, he said he suffered a headache and asked the police to allow him to go out and buy some medicine. However, he fled to his sister’s house in Quan Hanh Town.

He then went to Cua Dong Hospital in Vinh City to treat his head injury but was later arrested.

Thang confessed to the police that he was ordered to carry the wood by Trinh Thanh Long, deputy director of the management board of the Pu Huong Natural Conservation Center as well as head of the Pu Huong Forest Management Center.

Thang and Hung are being held at Nghi Xuan Prison in Nghe An.

According to an investigation by Tuoi Tre, at the time of the accident, the truck was carrying 12 columns of a house (each was 5m long) and 6 plank beds.

All of the products were made of the Tembusu (Fagraea fragrans) wood, a rare and protected type of wood.

Early on the morning of December 7, the truck was halfway down Pu Uot Mountain in Binh Chuan Commune in Con Cuong District when it was overturned.

10 workers sitting on top of the truck were killed and 4 others were injured. The workers had earlier loaded the wood products at Pieng O Village in Xieng Mi Commune, the police said.