~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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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.