BEIJING, May 18 /Itar-Tass/ - Over 3,000 Chinese citizens were evacuated from Vietnam over anti-China riots in the southeast Asian country, China’s Foreign Ministry reported on Sunday.
Violent protests against China sparked in industrial zones across Vietnam last week after China placed an oil rig in an area of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam. Crowds attacked China-owned businesses at industrial parks, set buildings ablaze and chased out Chinese employees. At least two Chinese nationals were killed and over 100 injured in the riots.
China has arranged chartered flights to bring citizens home, 16 of them in a critical condition and has also dispatched a special vessel to Vietnam for evacuation purposes.
China’s Transport Ministry ordered on Sunday to send another five ships to evacuate Chinese nationals.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government has said the situation in the riot-hit areas has come to normal.