Underwater vacuum to clean city lake - In: Bangkok Post, Nov. 19th 2007

Pollution threatens the lake that is the heart and soul of Vietnam´s capital - and a legendary turtle who lives below his murky waters - but now a high-tech solution maybe at hand to save them both. Over the next three years in time for Hanoi´s 1000th birthday in 2010, scientists intend to clean up Hoan Kiem Lake, home to the creature that symbolises Vietnam´s centuries-old struggle for independence.

Vietnamese and Germen experts say they will use a new device, which borrows from the design corkscrew, submarines and tanks, to suck several metres of toxic sludge from the bottom of the Lake of the Returned Sword. The $2.4 million (75.8 million bath) project will be a delicate one.