Jungle men: Ho Van Lang, 42, right, emerges from the Vietnam forest 40 years on (Picture: EPA)

A father and son described as ‘jungle men’ have been discovered in a Vietnamese forest where they lived for 40 years.

Ho Van Thanh fled with his two-year-old son into the wilderness when two of his children and his mother were killed by a mine explosion in the Vietnam War.

They learned how to survive in complete isolation and lived on fruit, cassava and corn. Their only clothing was a loincloth made from tree bark.

Thanh’s son, Ho Van Lang, is now 42 and can only speak a little of the language used in the Kor community.


Another son, Ho Van Tri, was just six months old at the time of the blast and was left behind.

Ho Van Thanh fled with his two-year-old son into the wilderness during the Vietnam war (Picture: EPA)

He told The Australian newspaper: ‘My father doesn’t want to eat or even drink water. He’s very sad.



‘We know he wants to escape my house to go back to the forest.’

When nearby villagers spotted the duo, they contacted the Tra Phong Commune authority, which then began to investigate the 82-year-old father’s identity.

Officials found he had lived a quiet and normal life with his family in the Tra Kem hamlet, south of Da Nang.

But when the landmine left most of his loved ones dead, he retreated to the forest with his child in a state of shock.

Both men are now receiving a check-up from doctors, who hope to re-integrate them into society.