Tourists among six dead as storm lashes Vietnam
HANOI - At least six people were killed, two of them Indian
tourists, and several reported missing, including a Thai tourist, after tropical storm
Kaemi lashed Vietnam's coast on Tuesday, police and officials said.
Wednesday's official Vietnam News newspaper said several fishing boats were
reported to have sunk in rough seas off the central coast and another 80 failed to
return to shore after the storm hit late on Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the two Indian tourists drowned after a whirlwind capsized two tour
boats in the northern tourist area of Halong Bay, northeast of Hanoi.
An officer told Reuters two Vietnamese women and a female Thai tourist were still
missing, but 16 other people had been rescued from the boats. He gave no
names of the dead tourists.
Official media reported four Vietnamese deaths in the central coast area, which is
lashed by tropical storms and typhoons every year.
A man was electrocuted in the central city of Danang, a child was killed by
lightning in Thua Thien Hue province, and in Quang Ngai province a man was
swept away in a flood and a woman killed when her house collapsed.
An official of the Thai consulate in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam said 11
Thai sailors were still missing after their cargo vessel sank near the Spratly
Islands last week.
Rescue officials said a Vietnamese trawler saved 12 Thai sailors from the
Bangluang last Friday, who had been in the water since the previous day.
The Thai official said he hoped for more details once the Vietnamese trawler
carrying the 12 rescued arrived in Ho Chi Minh City later on Wednesday.
Reuters - August 23, 2000.
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