VietNamNet Bridge – The prolonged and damaging cold spell has attacked the northern and central regions, deeply disrupting the daily life of the local people.


People in northern Lao Cai Province's Sa Pa Town are selling dead livestock that have died through the prolonged cold spell. Icy weather has brought misery to people, livestocks and crops. (Photo: VNS)
As many as seven deaths were reported due to cold weather or carbon monoxide poisoning from coal braziers in the central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tri and Phu Yen.


The incidence of cold-related diseases rose 15 per cent nation-wide, said Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the Ministry of Health's Health Examination and Treatment Department.


"Almost all of the patients are children or the elderly hospitalised with symptoms of respiratory disease," Khue said.

Health experts have advised people of the risks of carbon monoxide exposure and have also warned parents not carry their children by motorbike in the cold weather. Statistics from the Livestock Breeding Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that the prolonged cold weather has killed over 17,000 cows and buffaloes mainly in the northern provinces of Son La, Lao Cai, Lai Chau and Cao Bang.


In addition, peach and kumquat trees are unlikely to be able to bloom during Tet due to the freezing temperatures.


Fishermen missing


Prolonged icy weather, together with rough seas and gusting winds, has prevented hundreds of offshore fishing vessels from returning to the mainland.


Nguyen Van Huynh, a representative from Quang Ngai Province's Border Guard, said that more than 100 fishing vessels from Binh Son District and Ly Son Island District were forced to shelter at islands offshore.


Pham Nhanh, a fishing vessel captain from Binh Son District's Binh Chau Commune, said that his boat had managed to make it home, but that many others, laden with between seven and 15 tonnes of fish, were waiting for better weather near Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands.


Nhanh said it took at least six days for fishing boats to go from Truong Sa Islands and five days from Hoang Sa Islands to local ports.


About 380 fishing vessels in Quang Nam Province's Tam Quang Commune and hundreds of others in Da Nang faced the same situation.


Head of the Tho Quang Port's Fishing Vessel Management Board Huynh Van Phuong said about 200-300 fishing boats either sheltered or anchored at the city's port, while about ten boats went offshore each day.


The bitter cold spell is forecast to affect the central region today, bringing heavy rain, rough seas and gusting winds of between 61 and 102kph.


Last week, a fishing boat from Thanh Hoa Province carrying nine fishermen and another from Hai Phong carrying five fishermen went missing.


Rescue units are still searching for the boats and fishermen.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News