Wild men found in jungle 40 years after Vietnam War

A father and son have been found living in the jungle more than 40 years after they fled US bombing during the Vietnam War. Ho Van Thanh left his home village with his baby son Ho Van Lang in 1971 after a mine blast killed his wife and two of his children.

The pair apparently survived by foraging for fruit, lived in a timber treehouse and wore loin cloths made from tree bark.

The authorities were alerted after locals searching for firewood spotted the men deep in the forest in Quang Ngai province's Tay Tra district.

A team was set up to look for the pair - now aged 82 and 41 - and found them after a five hour search.

When found, Ho Van Thanh was too weak to walk and had to be taken out of the jungle on a stretcher.

The father could speak a little of the region's Cor language but the son only knew a few words.

The pair have been checked by doctors and a decision must now be made on how to reintegrate them to society.

Ho Van Thanh is believed to have lived a normal life in the hamlet of Tra Kem, but fled into the jungle after the explosion that decimated his family.

The men are thought to have grown their own food and even cultivated tobacco during their time in the wilderness.

Another son, Ho Van Tri, told Vietnamese newspaper VnExpress that he found them hiding out around two decades ago but could not convince them to return home with him.

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era conflict that claimed millions of military and civilian lives and left surviving soldiers and victims traumatised.

The US dropped millions of tonnes of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the war, which ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces.

 Tools that were made by the two jungle men when they were living in forest

The two men who had lived 40 years in isolation in a central Vietnam’s forest, and who were brought back to civilization Wednesday has a close relative who told Tuoi Tre their story. It turns out that this relative knew their whereabouts all along but failed to persuade them to return to normal life.

A sweater made of tree bark found in the hut of the two jungle men.

After living in a remote forest in central Quang Ngai province for 40 years, 82-old-year Ho Van Thanh is taken out of the forest in a hammock

After being taken out of the forest he has lived for 40 years, Ho Van Lang (L) is very reserved when others contact him.