Hanoi (dpa) - More than 1,500 soldiers have been deployed to fight raging forest fires that have destroyed thousands of hectares of forest in drought-stricken southern Vietnam, an official said Monday.
More forest looks set to be lost this week as the firefighting effort faces equipment and manpower shortages.
"We need reinforcements, quick reinforcements," Nguyen Van Thu, a forestry official in Ca Mau province, said by telephone Monday. "Our firefighters have been exhausted after a long time of hard work since last Wednesday. There isn't enough drinking water and some have been taken to hospital with burns."
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai was to visit the scene later Monday to rally troops, Thu said.
So far, the blazes in U Minh forest, about 300 kilometers south of Ho Chi Minh City, have destroyed at least 5 per cent of the 42,000-hectare forest.
"The fire is still spreading fast. In the worst-case scenario, we maybe have to sacrifice 10,000 hectares to save the rest," Thu said.
Continued drought and U Minh's metre-thick layers of peat have allowed the fires to smolder for weeks. Forestry experts say the tinderbox conditions put thousands of hectares of replanted forest under threat.
Vietnam has in past years launched an ambitious programme to replant trees after studies showed the country's forest cover dropped from 43 per cent to 28 per cent in 50 years.
The government plans to replant trees on 5 million hectares within the next five years.
dpa kj vb
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 04/15/2002 03:25:27
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