VietNamNet Bridge - Heavy rains accompanied a tornado overturned a big canvas house at the Lai Thieu fruit festival in the southern province of Binh Duong on June 16. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

The tornado occurred at 2pm on June 16 in Hung Dinh commune, Thuan An town of Binh Duong province. The biggest canvas and many other booths in the fair collapsed, destroying lots of fine-art rock and wood items.

Mr. Phan Dung, the owner of a fine-art stone shop in Dak Lak province said a lot of wood and stone statues and stone handicraft products were broken, worth over VND200 million ($10,000).

At the booth of Tuan Hanh Company, a Buddha statue made of rare wood worth VND200 million was also broken in the face. Many other products were broken, lying on the floor.

Mr. Nguyen Van Loc, director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Binh Duong, said the fruit festival closed on June 14 but the festival organizers extended the event for another two days to serve workers at the weekend.

Xuan Lan