Up to 21 dead, doctor says, as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam

Fire is seen at a damaged Chinese owned shoe factory in Vietnam's southern Binh Duong province May 14, 2014. REUTERS/Thanh Tung Truong

HANOI (Reuters) - Up to 21 people were killed in Vietnam, a doctor said on Thursday, and a huge foreign steel project was set ablaze as anti-China riots spread in response to China deploying an oil rig in seas claimed by both countries.

The doctor at a hospital in central Ha Tinh province said five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in rioting, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbours fought a brief border war in 1979.