After discovering a 130-meter tunnel leading to an illegal tin mine beneath the tourist spot Valley of Love in Da Lat Town, local authorities have discovered another tunnel with three entrance doors leading to the site.

Part 1: Illegal miners dig tunnel under Valley of Love Part 2: More tunnels dug by illegal miners discovered

One of the doors is located on a hill of pines and is close to a stream. Illegal miners have even installed a wooden frame covered by black nets to disguise it as an orchid farm.

Dinh Minh Thai, chief of forest zone 144B of the Lam Vien Forest Management Board admitted the new tunnel has at least three entrance doors, apart from the other tunnel discovered last week.

The new tunnel, which is about 60 meters long, has never been used for tin exploitation because of either wrong positioning or low content of tin or encountering hard rock, said Thai.

However, the new tunnel was better built and wider and taller than the previous one unearthed. It has ventilation and lighting systems. The tunnel is propped up by iron bars and covered by metal sheets.

Along the tunnel many shelters are bored into the sides for cart pushers to bypass.

Thai told Tuoi Tre that the other gates of the tunnel are located some 400 meters away from the first one. Local authorities have recently blocked the door.

“Now, all the entrance doors to the tunnel are guarded permanently by local policemen pending the city’s decision to mine the tunnels,” said policeman Truong Quang Vu.

“We want to ensure that no miner can penetrate the pit before it is mined to collapse.”

Actually, this is not the first time illegal tin miners have made such a secret tunnel in Da Lat. Local authorities have made interventions since 1995 but mining activities would only cease for a short period before breaking out again elsewhere, especially since 2007.

The tunnels seem to have appeared inside the Valley of Love before the 2012 Tet Holiday. Deputy director of the Valley of Love Park Phan Khac Cu affirmed that the unit had immediately reported to local authorities for clearance after finding the gate of the tunnel, which is located in this tourist area. However, illegal tin miners returned quickly after the Tet holiday. Cu also explained, because the gate of the tunnel lies in a forested area that is under the management of Thuy Duong Company Limited, and the tunnel runs underground, the administration board of the park can do nothing regarding this incident.

Illegal miners even chopped down hundreds of precious pine trees growing on surrounding hills to install a support system inside the tunnel.

Pham Dinh Long, Commander of the Military Command Committee of Ward 8, said that his force has tried to settle the problem by filling the tunnel but miners reopened the tunnel mouth to exploit it again. The illegal mining has been rampant since it broke out again in October last year.

"After each clearance operation, miners sent us threatening messages. In this situation, ward forces alone are not enough and we need more support from the city,” he conceded.

According to Tuoi Tre survey, around 120 illegal tin mines have been operating in the town of Da Lat with the participation of hundreds of miners.