Giant turtle in Hoan Kiem Lake dies

The People’s Committee announced its decision to move the turtle’s body to the Viet Nam National Museum of Nature, a museum under the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology.

The last time the turtle was spotted alive on the surface of the lake was on December 21, 2015.

The legendary creature had long been a symbol of  Ha Noi, reflecting culture and longstanding history of the capital city.

The turtle belonged to a very rare and valuable species. Besides the one in Hoan Kiem Lake, there are just three more of this kind in the world, with one being in Son Tay Town, Ha Noi, while the other two are in Shanghai, China.

As of 2011, the turtle’s body length was recorded at 185cm, weighing 169kg.

The turtle’s shell reached 100cm, while the length of its tail was 35cm.

Stories of the Hoan Kiem turtle began in the fifteenth century with Le Loi, who became an emperor of Vietnam and founder of the Le Dynasty.

The legend said that Le Loi had a magic sword given to him by Kim Qui (The Golden Turtle God) to repel the invading Chinese forces.

One day, not long after the Chinese had accepted Viet Nam’s independence, Le Loi was out boating on a lake in Ha Noi.

Suddenly a large turtle surfaced, took the sword from Le Loi, and dove back into the depths. Efforts were made to find both the sword and the turtle, but without success.

Le Loi then acknowledged the sword had gone back to the Golden Turtle God and renamed the lake Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Returned Sword).

The turtle is affectionately known as “Cụ Rùa,” meaning “great grandfather turtle” in Vietnamese./.