The village of twins

Twins Bui Thi Yen Nhu and Bui Thi Yen Nhi

Hung Loc commune has nearly 2,400 residents, with nearly 100 sets of twins. Hung Hiep village alone, with 535 families, is home to nearly 60 pairs. The village suddenly became popular several years ago when many media agencies went to the village to report about the special phenomenon.

An old man from Hung Hiep said that this phenomenon started several decades ago and scientists still can’t explain why so many twins were born in this region. The eldest twins are over 70 years old and the two women are living together.

Even migrant families have twins. Mr. Dan’s family moved from a northern province to Hung Hiep four years ago. At that time, he had four children. One year later, his wife was pregnant and delivered male twins.

Chairman of Hung Loc commune Ngo Thanh Nhan said that many people guess that the phenomenon is caused by the local source of water. Many couples who don’t have children from other provinces go to the village to ask for water, hoping to have babies. Some people used tank trucks to take water from Hung Hiep.

Tran Minh, a villager who follows the mystery of the local source of water, said that he didn’t know whether the twin phenomenon in his village is caused by water. However, he witnessed a story of an old couple, who came to the village for water.

In early April 2004, Minh received a couple from HCM City, who came to Hung Hiep to ask for water, wishing to have a baby. The couple brought with them ten 30l plastic barrels to take water back to HCM City. One year later, Min heard that the couple had delivered twins.

To prove that this story was true, Minh introduced the writer of this story to a former journalist named Binh, who also lived in Hung Hiep. Binh said that lucky woman was his wife’s sister. The couple went to various hospitals and oriental doctors but all were unable to help until they drank water sourced from the village of twins. Binh gave the phone number of this woman to the reporter to make an immediate call.

Over the phone, the woman said her name is Mai Kim Lan and lives on Huynh Tan Phat road, Tan Thuan Dong ward, District 7, HCM City. She got married in 1983. Lan and her husband were healthy and they hoped to have a baby soon. They tried every measure for many years but all of them failed.

 

In 2003, Binh called Lan to tell her about the rumour of the village of twins in Dong Nai. Lan casually tried this chance. She brought ten barrels of water from Hiep Hung back home in April 2003. She drank the water for several months and in October 2003, she got pregnant. She delivered male twins in 2004. She boasted that the two boys are very healthy and lovely and they study at 19-5 Kindergarten in District 7, HCM City.

 

“Do you believe me? I don’t know about other cases but I know this case like the back of my hand because I witnessed it from the beginning to the end,” Minh said.

 

Lan said that some of her childless friends aped Lan by taking water from Hung Hiep village and most of them have had children.

Twins Tran Duy Khang and Tran An Khang

 

Until now, there has been no research done about the especially high ratio of twins in this region. It is guessed that water sources, climate and soil there make local people more easily deliver twins than in other regions.

 

A local police officer, Le Van Bau, said that the number of twins has decreased in the past three years.

 

Hung Loc commune is not the only area in Vietnam where there are many twins. A fishing village in the central province of Nghe An has over ten twins. A village in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh has over sets of 20 twins. An alley in Go Vap district, HCM City has had over ten pairs of twins delivered since 1992.

 

According to some documents, there are only two places in the world where there are equivalent ratios of twins to Hung Loc. The first is Pleucadeuc village in France, which has 1,400 residents, including 31 sets of twins. The second is Kodinji village in southern India, which has over 100 pairs. Up to 90% of the twins are less than 18 years old.

(Source:VNN)|