While hunting for aloe wood in a forest in central Quang Binh Province, five people were shot to death by three unknown men several days ago, police reported.

When contacted by Tuoi Tre yesterday, one of the survivors, Do Van Hien, of Quang Son District, said his group comprised 6 members who had searched for ale wood in about 20 forests in the province’s Le Thuy District before the said murder on March 23.

That day another group of nine that had been robbed somewhere else met and joined Hien’s group.

The new group later assigned seven members to return home to fetch more food, one member to pick fruits while the remaining seven people stayed and guarded their tents.

At 11 am that day, three strange men appeared. One of them had an AK assault rifle in his hand, another held a number of ropes and the other threw stones at the tents, Hien recounted.

The strangers forced Hien to tie up six others of his group before they tied him and took all of them to another forest.

At 3 pm, the strangers stopped and told the captured that they would kill all of them if they failed to pay a ransom.

After discussion, the strangers agreed to release Ha, one of the seven, so that he could return home to bring the ransom.

They told Ha to return by the evening of March 25 or all of his six mates would be killed.

However, at about 2 am March 24, the strangers took one of the six hostages away and shot him dead. They later gunned down some others. At that time, Hien had successfully untied himself and ran away.

The strangers pursued him but Hien managed to escape and reported the case to border guards, who later came to the scene along with Hien and some other aloe wood searchers.

After a while, border guards and others found five bodies that had been buried underground.

These bodies were taken home yesterday.

Aloe wood is a very precious kind of wood, fetching prices as high as US$5,000-6,000 per kilogram. It is common for poor people in central Vietnam to go deep into the forest to seek their fortune.