Australians among those dead in Mekong plane crash

Six Australians are reported to be among those killed in a plane crash in southern Laos.

All 44 people aboard a domestic flight were killed when the plane crashed while attempting to land at a popular tourist town.

The Lao Airlines plane came down in the Mekong River.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed there were six Australians on board, including a family of four from New South Wales.

The aircraft crashed in bad weather just before it was due to land at Pakse airport, an airline official quoted by the Bangkok Post said.

The plane was on a flight from the Lao capital Vientiane.

The national airline of Laos operates domestic as well as international services to countries such as Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

It operates 14 aircraft, including two ATR 73-600 of the type involved in the crash.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Six Australians are reported to be among those killed in a plane crash in southern Laos.

All 44 people aboard a domestic flight were killed when the plane crashed while attempting to land at a popular tourist town.

The Lao Airlines plane came down in the Mekong River.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed there were six Australians on board, including a family of four from New South Wales.

The aircraft crashed in bad weather just before it was due to land at Pakse airport, an airline official quoted by the Bangkok Post said.

The plane was on a flight from the Lao capital Vientiane.

The national airline of Laos operates domestic as well as international services to countries such as Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

It operates 14 aircraft, including two ATR 73-600 of the type involved in the crash.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Climate change 92% of Mekong Delta under water in 2100?

Climate change could spell doom for delta

VietNamNet Bridge – Average temperatures in northern central Viet Nam can rise by 3.5 degrees centigrade and dry season rainfall reduce by 30 per cent by 2100, according to a new climate change report prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The new predictions are based on updated data collected from 200 meteorological stations and satellites. It paints a worse scenario than an earlier report in 2009 which estimated average temperature increase at 2.8 degrees centigrade and rainfall reduction at 18 per cent.

In the new version, by 2100, hot days with temperatures over 35 degrees centigrade would double in comparison with now.

Rainfall would raise 2-7 per cent in the rainy season but drop significantly during dry season.

The report divides climate change impacts into three categories: low, medium and high, depending on the level of emissions and socio-economic development.

At the medium level, if the sea water rises by 1m, around 2.5 per cent of land area in central coastal provinces, 10 per cent of the Hong River Delta, 20 per cent of HCM City and 39 per cent of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta would be inundated.

Four per cent of the railway system, nine per cent of highways and 12 per cent of provincial roads would be suffered.

If emissions increased at higher levels in Viet Nam and the world, the sea levels are expected to rise by 2m, in which case the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta would virtually cease to exit with 92 per cent under water.

The Hong River Delta and HCM City would lose 30 and 36 per cent of their land respectively.

The scenarios sketched in the report are expected to inform plans formulated to tackle climate change by concerned ministries and departments.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

An Giang’s fisherman catches a Mekong giant catfish | Look At Vietnam

An Giang’s fisherman catches a Mekong giant catfish

July 9, 2012

LookAtVietnam – For the first time–a fisherman in the southern province of An Giang caught a Mekong giant catfish of over 70 kilos.

A fisherman in An Phu district of An Giang province on July 8 caught a Mekong giant catfish of nearly 72kg, over 1.5m long in the Hau River, a branch of the Mekong River in Vietnam.
Local people said that the fisherman sold the giant fish to a local man named Tran Van Hien, pricing VND160,000 ($8) per kilo.
However, Hien said he did not buy the giant fish. “On the evening of July 6, a man named Meo offered a very big fish for sale, but police detected and did not allow Meo to sell the fish. The fish was temporarily released to the pond in my restaurant because the pond has an oxygen pumping system. But the fish has been brought to somewhere,” Hien said.
Mr. Tran Anh Dung, Chief of An Giang Aquaculture Department, said that the Mekong giant catfish is listed as an endangered species in Vietnam, which is banned from catching and trading.
Dung said the department was reported to about the case and its experts took the fish from Mr. Hien’s pond to a big lake. The fish will be taken care for several days and then released back to the Hau River.
“This fish was caught by a big casting-net. This is the reproduction period of the Mekong giant catfish. Perhaps the fish migrated from the Mekong River to the Hau River. A Mekong giant catfish of over 70kg in the Hau River is very rare,” Dung added.
The Mekong giant catfish, Pangasianodon gigas, is a species of catfish (order Siluriformes) in the shark catfish family (family Pangasiidae), native to the Mekong basin in Southeast Asia.
The Mekong giant catfish is perhaps the most interesting and most threatened species in the Mekong River. For this reason conservationists have chosen it as a sort of “flagship” species to promote conservation on the Mekong. With recorded sizes of up to 10.5ft (3.2m) and 660lb (300kg), the Mekong’s giant catfish currently holds the Guinness Book of World Records’ position for the world’s largest freshwater fish.
Endemic to the lower half of the Mekong River, this catfish is in danger of extinction due to over-fishing, as well as the decrease in water quality due to development and upstream damming. The current IUCN Red List for fishes classes the species as Critically Endangered; the number living in the wild is unknown, but catch data indicate the population has fallen by 80 percent in the last 14 years. It is also listed in Appendix I of CITES, banning international trade.
Compiled by Le Ha

Vietnam woman delivers rare natural quadruplets 

June 30, 2012

 
Tran Thi Tinh’s four babies at the intensive care ward in HCMC’s Tu Du Hospital on June 26
A Mekong Delta woman gave birth to quadruplets, all girls, at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, the hospital said Tuesday.
Tran Thi Tinh, 31, of Dong Thap Province was admitted June 20.
The doctors decided to perform a C-section since they expected Tinh to delivery prematurely and she had prenatal convulsions.
She gave birth to four babies weighing 1.2-1.7 kilograms who have been placed in intensive care. Both babies and mother are reported to be doing well.
Tinh already has two children – a boy and a girl.
Dr Le Thi Cam Giang of Tu Du Hospital said it is not rare for a woman to deliver quadruplets in the case of in vitro fertilization, but it is rare in natural deliveries like Tinh’s.
“One in around 89 deliveries ends in the birth of twins, triplets are one in 7,921, and quadruplets, one in 704,969,” she said.
Since Tinh’s family is poor, some philanthropists have been raising money for her to support the children .
The hospital said it last delivered quadruplets in 2006.

By Vien An, Thanh Nien News  

Tourists flock to ecological areas in Mekong Delta”s Bac Lieu province | Look At Vietnam

Tourists flock to ecological areas in Mekong Delta”s Bac Lieu province

June 23, 2012

LookAtVietnam – The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Bac Lieu is a symbol of natural bounty with its rice paddies, shrimp ponds and luxuriant orchards.

Picnic time: A longan garden adds a certain charm to the area, which is already popular among locals.

Getting lost in such a green space is a gentle experience even on the hottest of days thanks to the scent of rice, soil and the taste of sweet fruits.
About 6km due east of the Bac Lieu City centre lies a road named after late composer Cao Van Lau, on the right of which stands one of the largest bird sanctuaries in the delta, home to more than 60,000 birds and over 40 species. On the left hand side, the century-old longan garden features the luxuriance and pride of the delta province.
The garden covers an area of over 200ha across the communes of Hiep Thanh and Vinh Trach Dong. It was reportedly established over 100 years ago with longan seeds brought from China by a local resident named Truong Hung and which adapted well to the coastal area.
Today, in a family garden in Chom Xoai Hamlet, Truong Kiet, Hung’s great grandson, is still caring for the gigantic longan tree allegedly planted by his great grandfather.
Longans from Bac Lieu are famous for their big fruit, thick and fleshy pulp, small seeds as well as their sweet taste and scent. On average, each tree can produce 300-400kg of fruits each year, helping local growers prosper.
Roads along the longan garden help visitors reach the site easily while farmers have installed a lighting system to keep bats away from the fruit, adding a certain charm to the area, which is extremely popular among locals.
The garden is planned to become a thriving tourist attraction, according to Vu Duc Tho, head of the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.
“By 2015, we will introduce typical historical features related to the development of the Kinh, Hoa and Khmer ethnic groups,” Tho added.

What’s left: The Khmer people’s Vinh Hung Tower in Vinh Loi District is one of the most historically significant sites in southern Viet Nam. (Photos: VNS)

This is part of a provincial eco-tourism development plan to connect the villa of Cong Tu Bac Lieu (the playboy son of a local rich landlord from the early 20th century famous for his extravagant lifestyle), Nha Mat – Hiep Thanh Beach, the longan garden and a coastal mangrove forest.
Vinh Trach Dong Commune additionally plays host to a 300-year-old mango tree 20m in height and believed to have mythical healing powers as well as a ghost as resident.
According to legend, when people first settled in the area, a rampant tiger was terrorising the vicinity. After it got caught in a trap, it supposedly bit off its own leg to escape on the remaining three. After considerably veneration and offerings beneath the magical tree, the tiger never re-appeared.
It is easy to reach ancient Vinh Hung Town in Vinh Loi District if driving on the National Highway from Bac Lieu towards Ca Mau.
The tower is the only vestige in the Mekong Delta to include the Angkor-style architecture of the Khmer. Found in 1911, Vinh Hung Tower, also known as Luc Hien or Bhah Dhat, is one of the most historical sites in southern Viet Nam.
Archaeologists discovered a stele engraved with Sanskrit script in a pagoda next to the tower, dating from AD 892.
The 8,9m-tower was built on a low hill with a simple structure including a rectangle basin and an arching rooftop.
Inside you will find hand made copper Buddhas, the lower body part of a goddess, a statue of a goddess made from green stone, a statue of Brahma, a copper Buddha head and many other items.
Monks at the pagoda chant twice a day at 4am and 4pm. Every year, local residents organise an anniversary on the 15th day of the first lunar month at the tower. A large number of Buddhists inside and outside Bac Lieu Province make pilgrimages to the pagoda to pray.
The holy atmosphere around the tower makes it an ideal place for people to find inner peace and comfort. While time has left its trace on the tower walls, for thousands of years rice fields and orchards have continued growing in the delta province.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Chinese men arrested while choosing wives at Vietnam hotel | Look At Vietnam

Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested two local men and their Chinese clients in a hotel on June 19 for taking part in an illegal marriage brokerage, as the foreigners awaited to select brides.
Thong A Loc, 59, from HCMC, confessed to being the organizer while Su Chuc Man, 43, acted as a translator for the Chinese clients, Cen Yi Bin, 41, and Huang Hui Huang, 27, news website VnExpress reported Friday.
Loc said the two women were 18 and 23 years of age, hailing from the Mekong Delta’s Bac Lieu and Hau Giang Provinces and came to HCMC hoping to land jobs abroad.
They were brought to the hotel immediately after arriving at HCMC’s Mien Tay Bus Station.
One of the women strenuously refused to show her body to the Chinese men. Police broke in during the struggle.
Loc said he had organized many successful bride auctions, in which he received at least US$1,000 from each foreigner who selected a wife.
Investigations showed that Loc started the illegal marriage brokerage in late 2011, after serving three years in jail for sending women to work abroad as prostitutes.
Many Vietnamese women from poor families in the Mekong Delta have made national headlines for becoming the victims of beatings, some of which have been fatal, at the hands of their Taiwanese or South Korean husbands, who were either too old or poor to marry local women in those countries.

RELATED CONTENT

Bride broker crackdown

The Vietnamese women married these men hoping for fairy tale lives. However, most of these arrangements do not go smoothly, plagued by language and cultural barriers.
In March this year, the South Korean consulate in Vietnam said that a Vietnamese woman was killed by her husband in South Korea.
Last year another Vietnamese woman was stabbed to death by her Korean husband. Similar tragedies were also reported in 2010 and 2007.

Catching or destroying fish?

June 10, 2012

LookAtVietnam – The authorities of Mekong Delta provinces have made a warning over the use of batteries, pesticides or dense-mesh nets to catch fish, considering these methods as the way to eradicate aquatic animals.

According to Dong Thap province, the natural aquatic output has sharply reduced from 5,000 to 6,000 tons per annum, in the last three years. The fall was caused by many reasons, including the use of the above methods.

Today, Mekong Delta’s people usually use electricity or dense-mesh nets to catch fish in rivers or canals.

Electric tools kill all aquatic animals but fishermen only collect big fish.

In Can Tho, there are nearly 500 fishing boats using electric tools to catch fish, though this method is banned.

This kind of fishing net catches all kinds of animals, of all sizes, even tiny shrimps.

These catching methods are banned but local people still use them rampantly.

NUDE Mother and Daughter to keep land

Can Tho: Mother and daughter are nude to keep their land

VietNamNet Bridge – Ms. Pham Thi Lai, 52, and her daughter, 33, took off their clothes in order to prevent a construction company from taking her land for its project.

On May 22, Ms. Lai and her daughter did not wear clothes--to prevent workers of Construction JS Company No. 8 from implementing the Hung Phu residential area project on their land, which was revoked.

The company’s guards appeared and dragged the woman and her daughter at mid-noon.

The case was reported to the authorities of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Loi, Vice Party Secretary of Can Tho said on May 28 that the city would solve the case properly. The construction company was also criticized for their rough behavior against Ms. Lai and her daughter.

In 2005, the Construction JS Company No. 8 offered Ms. Lai’s family with nearly VND300 million ($18,000) to buy their land, but this family did not agree. In 2010, the company raised compensation to VND1.2 billion ($60,000) but the family still did not accept.

In December 2011, the land was revoked by force. Lai’s husband attempted suicide by insecticide to protest, but he was saved.

Ngoc Anh

Reforestation brings island back to life | Look At Vietnam

Reforestation brings island back to life

May 21, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Soil erosion has become rampant in most river banks and river islands in southern Vietnam, with the exception of Long Hoa Island in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong Delta.

Farmer Tran Huu Chi, 55, pioneers in reforestation on river island to protect it from soil erosion. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Locals on the islands have discovered an ancient method to prevent erosion: reforestation. Trees surrounding an island help expand it gradually by creating a flooded alluvial plain, which then becomes a fishing area for locals to earn their living thanks to an abundant amount of sea products such as fish and shellfish.
Tran Huu Chi, 55, a farmer living on Long Hoa Island in Chau Thanh District, pointed towards a forest growing up from the flooded alluvial plain surrounding the island and said, “We farmers joined hands to cultivate indigenous trees to create that forest.”
“Thanks to the forest, we no longer lose land to soil erosion. It has even helped expand our island by some ten kilometers, a new area which has become a habitat for fish and shellfish.
“The alluvial plain has become the food pot for our farmers,” Chi said, implying that it is a means of living thanks to the abundant amount of sea products located there.
All river islands, river banks and alluvial plains in the Mekong Delta were once completely covered with aboriginal plants such as mangroves and nipa, or a kind of coconut tree that grew in flooded sites. Soil erosion only appeared when the forests were chopped down.
Over ten years ago, Long Hoa Island suffered from soil erosion, Chi said. It worsened following a storm in 1997. Numerous houses fell into the river. Even Chi’s house, which is located over a hundred meters from the river’s edge, was affected, said Nguyen Van Nhanh – deputy chairman of Long Hoa Commune’s People’s Committee.
Once, when Chi rowed his small boat to adjacent islands to catch fish and crab, he recognized that the islands with trees surrounding them weren’t suffering from erosion, and that they were even expanding. Chi began planting trees and one year later, soil erosion had almost stopped.
Other farmers worked with him to nurture trees around the island and it became a green forest as it is now, Chi shared.
A few years after beginning the reforestation, a flooded alluvial plain has formed, acting as a door step of the island opening towards the river. Numerous kinds of sea creatures such as fish, shrimp and shellfish grow there, making the area fishing field where locals earn their living.
“From bare land suffering severe soil erosion, Chi has become a pioneer in planting trees to protect his land and other locals have imitated his successful model,” said Long Hoa’s People’s Committee chairman, Le Van Tri.
Not only does Chi protect land, but he has even dug ponds to keep shrimp in, and his business gives him a net profit of over VND100 million every shrimp season.
“Now, I am protected from both erosion and poverty,” said Chi. “Reforestation is the eternal rule. We just follow the natural rules to survive.”
VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre

Youth with Giant Tumor for over 20 yrs

Vietnam youth struggles with giant tumor  | Look At Vietnam

Vietnam youth struggles with giant tumor
March 7, 2012
Le Thanh Vu and his "giant" arm

A 26-year-old man in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has been living with four abnormal tumors on his arm and back for more than 20 years, the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reports.

Le Thanh Vu of Rach Gia City has three tumors on his back and a huge one on his left arm. The tumors, which started growing on his body since he turned four, now weigh an estimated 15 kilograms.

They are not painful but they cause a lot of difficulties in daily life. Vu cannot move his left arm cannot be move because the tumor is too heavy.

His left thorax is also deformed, making his body tilt to one side.

Vu’s sister and his deceased father also had tumors on their bodies.

Vu has twice visited hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City in an attempt to get rid of the tumors but he could not afford the medical fees for any treatment.

Thanh Nien News

Hundreds die in Thailand and Cambodia floods

At least 356 people have died since August after flash floods hit south-east Asian countries. Last Modified: 02 Oct 2011 23:27 inShare Email Print Share Feedback

Flood waters have damaged rice fields, schools and Buddhist temples in Cambodia [Reuters] At least 356 people have been killed in Thailand and Cambodia since August in flash floods, according to government officials. The death toll is higher in Thailand, where 206 people have died while 150 were killed in neighbouring Cambodia. Keo Vy, the spokesman of the Cambodian government disaster agency, said on Sunday that flood waters along the Mekong river and other places had damaged 670,000 acres of rice fields, as well as 904 schools and 361 Buddhist temples. Hundreds of people have been killed in China, Japan and South Asia in the last four months from prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoons and storms.

Three Gorges lessons for Vietnam | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Three Gorges lessons for Vietnam

June 4, 2011 about Life in Vietnam

Damming the Mekong would lead to loss of fisheries, reduced agricultural productivity and erosion of river channels and coastline of the Mekong Delta

Visitors look at the shipping locks of the Three Gorges Dam near Yichang, Hubei Province, China. China will move at least four million people in the next decade to protect the ecology of the Three Gorges dam reservoir, Chinese media reported.
By Peter Bosshard (*)
The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the world’s largest hydropower project. It has often been touted as a model for dam building around the world. Now the Chinese government has officially acknowledged that the project has serious social, environmental and geological problems. What are the lessons from the Three Gorges experience?
With a capacity of 18,200 megawatts – more than all proposed dams on the lower Mekong’s mainstream combined – the Three Gorges Dam is a masterpiece of engineering indeed. In spite of its daunting complexity, the government completed the project ahead of time in 2008. Its cost has been estimated at between US$27 billion and $88 billion.
The Three Gorges Dam generates two percent of China’s electricity and substitutes at least 30 million tons of coal per year. Yet it was neither the cheapest source of energy nor the best option for replacing coal. While the dam was under construction, the country’s economy actually became more wasteful in its use of energy. According to the Energy Foundation in the US, it would have been “cheaper, cleaner and more productive for China to have invested in energy efficiency” rather than new power plants.
Project impacts
The project’s social and environmental cost may be even more staggering than the financial price tag. The Three Gorges Dam has displaced more than 1.2 million people. Hundreds of local officials diverted compensation money into their own pockets, but protests against such abuses were oppressed. Because it no longer controls the economy and land is scarce, the government was not able to provide jobs and land to the resettlers as promised.
Damming the Three Gorges caused massive impacts on the ecosystem of the Yangtze, Asia’s longest river. The barrage stopped the migration of fish, and diminished the river’s capacity to clean itself. Pollution from dirty industries along the reservoir is causing frequent toxic algae blooms. Commercial fisheries have plummeted, the Yangtze River dolphin has become extinct, and other species are facing the same fate.
Due to dam building and pollution, rivers and lakes around the world have lost more species to extinction than any other major ecosystem.
While the social and environmental problems had been predicted, government officials were not prepared for the dam’s massive geological impacts. The water level in the Three Gorges reservoir fluctuates between 145 and 175 meters every year. This destabilizes the slopes of the Yangtze Valley, and triggers frequent landslides. According to Chinese experts, erosion affects half the reservoir area, and 178 kilometers of riverbanks are at risk of collapsing. More than 300,000 additional people will have to be relocated to stabilize the reservoir banks.
Since most of the Yangtze’s silt load is now deposited in the reservoir, the downstream regions are starved of sediment. As a consequence, up to four square kilometers of coastal wetlands are eroded every year. The Yangtze delta is subsiding, and seawater intrudes up the river, affecting agriculture and drinking water supplies. Because of a lack of nutrients, coastal fisheries have also suffered.
Hydropower projects have often been proposed as a response to global warming, yet the Three Gorges Dam illustrates how the vagaries of climate change create new risks for such projects. In a nutshell, past records can no longer be used to predict a river’s future streamflow. The dam operators planned to fill the Three Gorges reservoir for the first time in 2009, but were not able to do so due to insufficient rains. The current year has brought Central China the worst drought in 50 years, which has again sharply reduced the power generation of the Three Gorges and hundreds of other dams.
Change of course?
Scientists had warned of the Three Gorges Dam’s impacts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but no one listened to them. On May 18, China’s highest government body for the first time acknowledged the dam’s serious problems. “The project is now greatly benefiting the society in the aspects of flood prevention, power generation, river transportation and water resource utilization,” the government maintained, but it has “caused some urgent problems in terms of environmental protection, the prevention of geological hazards and the welfare of the relocated communities.”
The Three Gorges Project has served as a model of dam building all around the world. The Son La Dam on the Da River has for example been called “Vietnam’s response to the Three Gorges Dam.” After the completion of the mega-dam on Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Power Corporation and its contractors started exporting the technology which they had acquired at the Three Gorges to other countries, including Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Given the project’s global significance, it is important to draw lessons from the experience with the Yangtze dam. First and foremost, the Three Gorges Project shows that damming the mainstream of major rivers is particularly damaging, in that it will interrupt the migration of fish and the transport of sediments throughout a river’s ecosystems. As the World Commission on Dams recommended in its path-breaking report, Dams and Development, a river’s mainstream should not be dammed as long as there are other options.
Secondly, the Three Gorges experience demonstrates that large dams on major rivers are massive interventions into highly complex ecosystems. Their impacts can occur thousands of kilometers away and many years after construction has been completed. It is impossible to predict and mitigate all social and environmental impacts of such projects. As a team of international hydrologists coordinated by The Nature Conservancy found in a study in 2010, downstream impacts in particular are often neglected.
A Strategic Environmental Assessment prepared for the Mekong River Commission predicts that damming the lower Mekong mainstream would cause the loss of riverine and marine fisheries, reduce agricultural productivity in Mekong Delta and Cambodia’s floodplains, and erode the river channels and coastline of the Mekong Delta. All these impacts have been borne out by the Three Gorges Project. The recommendation by the Commission, and now by the Vietnamese government, not to dam the Mekong for the next 10 years reflects the experience of the Yangtze dam.
Finally, the Three Gorges Dam demonstrates that affected communities and other stakeholders should be involved in decision-making regarding large infrastructure projects from the beginning.
China has a strong state and spent tens of billions of dollars on resettlement programs for the Three Gorges Dam. But because the affected people were excluded from decision-making, the program often ignored their needs and desires, and resulted in wide-spread impoverishment and frustration.
The Chinese government recently started a comprehensive effort to pay pensions to the millions of people who were displaced by its dam projects. It would be cheaper and more effective to give affected people a say in decision-making from the beginning. The civil society consultations on the Xayaburi Dam which the Vietnamese government held earlier this year were a step in the right direction.
(*) Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of US-based environment NGO International Rivers. The opinions expressed are his own.




Three Gorges lessons for Vietnam | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Vietnam's Floating Marketplace

Video Life on the Mekong Delta


Vietnam's Floating Marketplace

Vietnam's Floating Marketplace

- Dried Mekong River and countries’ responsibility | Dried Mekong River and countries’ responsibility

The water level in the Mekong River, the longest river in Southeast Asia, has dropped to the lowest level in the last five decades, causing worries among the affected countries.

Scarcity of fish in Mekong Delta’s flood season

Late flood sways farmers in Vietnam’s southwestern region

Chinese dams prevent flood in Vietnam’s southwestern region?

Dried Mekong River and countries’ responsibility


Plutocracy controls the Mekong River?

Mekong and the war of water


VietNamNet

Can Tho: Colossal crocodile jawbone fished out from river

Fisherman Tran Van Ut in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho found the jawbone of a giant crocodile in Dau Sau (Crocodile Head) River.

HCM City farm loses 300 crocodiles in the night

Crocodiles captured near central province croc farm

Mother Nature lets hundreds of crocodiles loose on Central Vietnam

Ut at first thought this 0.9m long, 0.4m wide jawbone was a tree trunk.

Tran Van Tot, 86, a resident of the area, exclaimed that he has never seen such a big crocodile head. He estimated the reptile had been five to six meters long and weighed 300-400 kilograms. He also guessed that the crocodile may have died more than 100 years ago.

Tieu Thi Tuyet, 76, who lives near the river, recalled that her grandmother once saw a giant crocodile basking on the shore and crawling into the river when it spotted people.

Several people have offered to buy the jaw, but Ut has refused to sell it.

The world’s largest living crocodile is the saltwater crocodile found in Australia and India, which is thought to grow to up to seven meters.

Some pictures of the giant crocodile jawbone:

Source: Tuoi Tre/VNE

Air Mekong is ready to fly

Air Mekong edges towards launch flights
Vietnam-backed Air Mekong is ready to fly with 40 foreign pilots awaiting the arrival of planes.

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has granted the carrier traffic rights to operate domestic services.

Air Mekong says it will sell tickets from September 23 for its more than 30 daily domestic flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Danang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, and Dalat as well as from HCMC to Con Dao, Buon Ma Thuot, Haiphong and Vinh.

Air Mekong has chartered four three-year-old Bombardier CRJ-900s from a U.S.-based aircraft leasing firm.

Vietnam Air Petrol Co. said it has a flexible scheme for Air Mekong to pay fuel bills depending on the carrier’s capability rather than ask the carrier to make payment in advance

Mekong Aviation First Commercial Flight Oct 2010

Mekong Aviation is completing hectic preparations for its first commercial flight, while Jetstar Pacific is trying to expand its market share.


LookAtVietnam - Mekong Aviation is completing hectic preparations for its first commercial flight, slated for October 2010, while Jetstar Pacific is trying to expand its market share.

According to Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper, Mekong Aviation, a private airline, has decided that it will take the first commercial flight on October 10, 2010. The information is good news for Vietnam’s aviation market.
Believing that it cannot confront airlines that have experience and a certain market share, Mekong Aviation has decided to exploit the ‘niche market’: the airline will fly domestic air routes with Bombardier CRJ 900 jets. Its air routes will be Hanoi-Phu Quoc island, HCM City-Phu Quoc island with four flights per week and also Hanoi-HCM City. At this moment, other airlines do not want to fly Hanoi-Phu Quoc, because Phu Quoc only has a small airport capable of receiving aircraft with less than 100 seats. Only Vietnam Airlines can meet the requirement because it has ATR and Forker aircraft.

As such, right when it joins the market, Mekong Aviation will have an advantage. Another advantage is in aircraft. Bombardier CRJ 900 has 95 seats that flies more smoothly and more quickly than propeller-driven planes.

Mekong Aviation is the first Vietnamese airline to use the Bombardier, chartering them from US SkyWest. SkyWest will also provide the maintenance service.

Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted Vo Huy Cuong, Head of the Aviation Transport Department under the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), as saying that SkyWest is preparing to buy 30 percent of stakes of Mekong Aviation.

If the purchase is accepted by the Ministry of Transport, this will be the third Vietnamese airline that has sold stakes to foreign partners, after Jetstar Pacific Airlines, and VietJet Air.

It is expected that in August, Mekong Aviation will receive its first aircraft. To date, the air carrier has fulfilled three out of the five steps needed to apply for AOC (air operator’s certificate).

The budget airline Jetstar Pacific is also planning to expand its market share after a long period of coping with the economic downturn. Under an agreement with foreign partner Qantas, by 2014, the airline will put 10 Airbus A320-A321s into operation to improve flight capacity. The first A320 will be delivered in October 2010.
The airline’s fleet now includes five Boeing 747s and one Airbus A321. Jetstar Pacific’s foreign partner cooperates in training pilots and technical teams and has committed to long-term investment in Vietnam.
According to Cuong from CAAV, while Indochina Airlines is facing license revocation, the fact that Mekong Aviation is preparing to take off and Jetstar Pacific is trying to increase its capacity will help the aviation market increase transport capacity.
With a growth rate of nearly 20 percent per annum, travel demand is very high, and the three currently operational airlines cannot meet the demand, especially at peak times.
 In order to take-off in October, Mekong Aviation will have to open its ticket sale system by August at the latest. It is expected that airfares will be equal or lower than the average airfare of Vietnam Airlines on the same air routes.
Source: Nguoi lao dong, Tuoi tre

PATA- Mekong Tourism Forum in Seam Reap, Cambodia

Mekong Delta-Chuck Kuhn Photography
Mason calls for Mekong tourism cooperation


Posted: Wed 28 Apr, 2010 12:00 AM

The Mekong Tourism Forum has lined up more speakers for next week’s ‘New Roads, New Opportunities’ conference in Seam Reap, Cambodia. Tourism ministers, travel industry CEOs and leading private sector and development minds will tackle challenges and opportunities facing tourism in the Mekong region.
Speakers include H.E. Dr Thong Khon - Minister of Tourism of Cambodia; Luzi Matzig, Group CEO - Asian Trails; former TAT governor Pradech Phayakvichien; Bill Black, Managing Director, Ativa Hospitality; Tran Trong Kien, CEO of Buffalo Tours Vietnam and Greg Duffell - CEO of PATA. The ‘In conversation with’ slot sees former Singapore Tourism Board chief Lim Neo Chian interviewed by Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editor and Producer of WIT-Web In Travel.
Opportunities and threats will be analysed against a backdrop of growth. "Tourism demand for Mekong region destinations is storming ahead," says Mason Florence, Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office in Bangkok. "We need to work together to make sure development is fair and sustainable and that we remove obstacles to growth and poverty alleviation."
Government speakers will update the audience on visa regulations, border crossing changes and airport developments as well as new policies and incentives for the tourism sector.

Drought drops Mekong River to nearly 2-decade low

BANGKOK (AP) - Severe drought has dropped the Mekong River to its lowest level in nearly 20 years, halting some cargo traffic and boat tours on the Asian waterway that is the lifeblood for 65 million people in six countries, a draft report said.

The decrease was caused largely by an early end to the 2009 wet season and low rainfall during the monsoons, rather than dams built upstream in China, according to documents drafted by the Mekong River Commission.

"At this stage there is no indication that the existence of dams upstream has made the situation more extreme than the natural case," said the draft report seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Nongovernmental organizations have long blamed China for shrinking the Mekong and causing other ecological damage by building dams. A dozen exist or are planned on the river in the country where it originates.

But dams have also been built or planned in other countries, principally on the river's many tributaries in Laos.

Senior officials from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam met Wednesday in Luang Prabang, Laos, to discuss the river. China and Myanmar, the other two riparian countries, are not commission members.

The report said the river level in southwestern China is the lowest in 50 years, with only half the volume that would be normal in February. Levels at mainstream measuring stations in Laos and northern Thailand are below those in 1992.

River tour operators have stopped services on stretches of the river in Laos and cargo vessels have been halted in China's Yunnan province, the report said.

The commission said the water scarcity has sparked fears of food shortages, lack of access to clean water and impoverishment in some of Southeast Asia's poorest regions.

"This situation represents a wide regional hydrological drought affecting all countries in the upper part of the (Mekong) basin," the report said. It also noted the commission will hold further discussions with China but gave no details.

Mekong River runs dry; cargo ships grounded for 10 days

CHIANG RAI, Feb 25 (TNA) – Thailand's exports via Chiang Sean district in this northernmost province have been affected by a severe drought affecting the Mekong River, the 12th-longest river in the world and the 7th-longest in Asia.

According to Winai Chintongprasert, head of the Chiang Saen customhouse, the river, which forms the border of Thailand with Laos and Cambodia, and Laos with China, has run completely dry, with a very long line of sand dune islands in the middle of the river, forcing freighters from Thailand’s Chiang Saen Port to China’s Guanlei Port in Yunnan province and vice versa to have halted their runs for over 10 days.

Thai cargoes valued at more than Bt150 million are stranded aboard ships. The cargoes included palm oil, energy drinks and dehydrated longan.

The water level in Mekong River has fallen since the end of December and continued to decrease dramatically during February. (TNA)