Authorities estimate that about seven hectares of forest were completely destroyed. Photo by VTV.
On May 13, Tran Van Thu, chair of the Ia H’Drai District People’s Committee, confirmed that the district’s Forest Protection Department and related agencies had been instructed to inspect the scene in Ia Toi Commune.
The deforested area lies just two kilometres from the district’s administrative centre. At the site, numerous large trees, some with diameters ranging from 30cm to more than a metre, had been felled, with logs scattered across the forest floor. Authorities estimate that about seven hectares of forest were completely destroyed.
Photo by VTV.
Within the cleared area, officials discovered a two-storey wooden house measuring roughly 150 square metres. The structure appeared to have been built using large timber sourced from the felled trees.
According to Le Tien Trung, deputy head of the Ia H’Drai Forest Protection Unit, the forest in question is a natural forest under the management of Sa Thay Rubber Company.
Trung said local forest rangers had detected the deforestation about a week earlier. “Due to the vast area, we have not yet completed the full assessment,” he said. Authorities have not yet identified those responsible.
As for the wooden house near the deforested zone, Trung confirmed it was illegally built on forestry land in 2019.
The case is under further investigation by the relevant agencies.
