Vietnamese soldiers hunt for hundreds of crocodiles swept away in flood

Soldiers, militiamen and forest rangers hunted for hundreds of crocodiles Monday after lethal flooding unleashed the animals from a central Vietnam farm, officials said.

The crocodiles escaped from a state-owned farm and tourist attraction, which had some 5,000 of the reptiles, when floodwaters knocked down part of the fence enclosing the area Saturday, said Khanh Hoa province's Governor Vo Lam Phi.



Soldiers using AK-47 assault rifles shot and killed 11 crocodiles as they crawled up a riverbank toward nearby villages, said Nguyen Nhu Long, an officer with the Khanh Hoa military command.



"Each of them weighed from 200 kilograms to 250 kilograms (440 to 550 pounds), and it took seven or eight people to carry their dead bodies away," Long said.

Hundreds of crocodiles may have escaped, Long said, adding that it could take a week to 10 days to track them down.