TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Vietnamese migrant worker suffered a fatal fall from a building under construction while working during an illegal holiday shift on Sunday. 

At around 4 p.m., the New Taipei City Fire Department received a report that a worker surnamed Nguyen (阮) had fallen at a construction site on Chongxin Road, Section 5 in New Taipei's Sanchong District, per UDN. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found the 21-year-old worker had lost all vital signs. 

Nguyen was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to resuscitate him, and he was pronounced dead. 

Nguyen’s coworkers said that after work ended around 4 p.m., he went back upstairs to retrieve his jacket on the 5th floor. 

When he did not return, his coworkers looked for him and found that he had fallen onto the ground level. They called for emergency services. 

Police cordoned off the site for investigation. During questioning, the foreman surnamed Liao (廖) claimed that no construction was being carried out due to the holiday and said he did not know why Nguyen was there. 

However, labor inspectors found that Nguyen had been working on curtain wall installation. Liao confessed that illegal construction had been taking place on the holiday. 

The New Taipei City Government ordered a work stoppage pending investigation. The exact cause of Nguyen’s fall is being investigated by labor inspection personnel.