Vietnam pair coaxed out of jungle
A Vietnamese father and his son who
fled to the jungle during the war four
decades ago have been persuaded to
leave, officials say.
Ho Van Lang and his 82-year-old father
reportedly shunned contact with the
outside world after three family
members were killed by a landmine.
For most of their time in the jungle their
whereabouts was unknown.
They were discovered living in dense
foliage in central Quang Ngai province
and were barely able to communicate.
Mr Ho was said by officials to only know
a few words of the local Cor dialect.
Vietnamese media reported that Mr Ho's
brother succeeded in tracking the pair
down 20 years ago, but had not been
able to persuade them to return to
modern society.
Local media initially reported that the
82-year-old's wife had been killed by the
mine, but it subsequently emerged that it
was in fact his mother and her two
grandchildren.
Traumatised
While in the jungle, the pair wore only
loincloths and used a homemade axe to
chop down trees. They survived on corn,
fruits and cassava roots from the jungle.
They lived in a tree house, five metres
above ground, where they kept arrows
for hunting and knives for killing
animals.
The older man kept his military trousers
neatly folded in a corner as well as the
little red coat his son was thought to
have been wearing when they fled.
A party of local people who discovered
them were reported to be startled by
their wild appearance and outlandish
gestures.
They reported their find to the leaders of
a local commune, who deployed a team
to track them down.
After a five-hour search on Thursday the
team located the father and son in their
tree house.
Officials say that Mr Ho fled to the jungle
after being traumatised by the mine
explosion.
The pair are now being given medical
checks as the first step in the process of
reintegrating them into society.
