Thousands of Vietnam soldiers on standby for Typhoon Kai-Tak

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam put 20,000 soldiers on standby, ordered boats back to shore and began evacuating local residents as it prepared for Typhoon Kai-Tak to make landfall late on Friday, officials and reports said.

More than 11,000 boats, including 575 used by tourists at the Unesco world heritage site Halong Bay, have been ordered to stay close to the shore, the deputy head of Quang Ninh province's flood and storm control department said.

"Mong Cai town, which borders China, will be directly hit by the storm late on Friday," Mr Nguyen Cong Thuan told AFP, adding that thousands of residents directly in the storm's path have been relocated to safer areas.

Before blowing away from the Philippines on Thursday, Kai-Tak swept across the main island of Luzon, dumping heavy rain on the Cagayan basin and other areas in the north, killing four people.