Found after 40 years: Man who went missing with his son in the Vietnamese jungle when his mother and two of his children were killed in a bomb at their home

A father and son have been found living in the jungle of Vietnam four decades after they went missing during the country’s war with the U.S.

Ho Van Thanh and his son Ho Van Lang apparently fled their home village 40 years ago after a bomb killed three members of their family.

They were discovered by locals looking for firewood in deep forest in the Tay Tra district of Quang Ngai province.
Found: Ho Van Lang, 41, has been living in the jungle of Vietnam since he was two years old





Yesterday authorities confirmed that the men were Thanh, 82, and 41-year-old Lang.

The older man once lived a normal life with his family in the hamlet of Tra Kem around the time of the Vietnam War.

But one day his wife and two of his sons were killed by a mine explosion, putting him in a state of shock.

He took his two-year-old son and fled into the jungle, thereafter never having any contact with anyone else.



Weak: Ho Van Thanh is pictured being stretchered through the jungle after they were discovered





Recovery: Rescuers transport the two men back to civilisation, with the 82-year-old father in a hammock
Check-up: A doctor monitors Thanh, who has seen no one except his son for the past four decades



The pair survived by foraging fruit and cassava from the forest and planting corn.

They wore loincloths made out of tree bark, and lived in a timber hut raised five metres above the ground.

When the foragers saw the two ‘jungle men’ from a distance acting abnormally, they alerted local authorities.



Wild: Ho Van Thanh and his son Ho Van Lang lived in a jungle tree house,
Possessions: Bystanders inspect the clothes made from bark which the two men wore in the forest


Speechless: Lang, right, does not appear to know more than a few words of any language

Officials set up a team to track them down, and found them yesterday after a five-hour search.

The father could speak a little of the minority Cor language, but the son knew only a few words.

The pair are now undergoing medical check-ups as a first step to being reintegrated into mainstream society.