sign in a cave in Laos

25 December 2014

Vietnam lava tubes in Dak Nong

A strange article appeared on 24 Dec 2014 in the Tuoi Tre News about the discovery of Vietnam's first lava tube cave. The title "Southeast Asia's longest volcanic cave discovered in Vietnam" is OK, but the article goes on to say that "A group of Vietnamese and Japanese scientists have announced the discovery of the first volcanic cave system in Vietnam, one part of which is considered the longest such feature in Southeast Asia. The discovery was made in Krong No District in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong by experts from the general department and the Japan Caving Association after seven years of research".

What the article really means is that they are the first lava tubes to be found in Dak Nong province, not in Vietnam. Prior to this article, the longest lava cave in Vietnam is Hang Doi 1 Km 123 at 437 m, found in 2013.  According to the article, 12 caves were found and 3 were surveyed, the longest being 1055 m.

See the above link for the full article and photos.
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The next day a better article appeared in Thanh Nien News on 25 Dec, "Record volcanic cave system discovered in central Vietnam". Although it still said "The recent discovery represents the first volcanic cave system ever found in Vietnam." and "scientists have conducted detailed surveys of three caves--the largest of which measures over a kilometer in length and several thousands of meters in width." I think the width might be a mistake!