Hanoi - Authorities in the central province of Quang Ngai have destroyed more than one ton of illegally harvested blowfish, a local official said Tuesday.

"We decided to destroy them in order to avoid people selling them in the market," said Tran Trung, the chief of the secretariat of Pho Thanh commune, where the blowfish was destroyed.

Trung said that the fish, which had been frozen for transportation to markets and restaurants, was confiscated from fishermen at the port town of Sa Hung Fishing.

Local authorities had previously destroyed some 450 kilograms of the fish at the same port.

Trung said authorities buried the fish and posted guards at the disposal site for 24 hours, to ensure locals did not excavate it before it rotted.

Despite the Ministry of Trade and Industry's ban on selling blowfish, the fish is still available in markets, especially in mountainous areas where residents are unaware of the danger of eating it.

The skin and certain internal organs of blowfish contain potentially fatal toxins. Some species of the fish, with the toxic elements cut away by trained chefs, are eaten as a delicacy in Japan and Korea.

"Four or five people have died of blowfish in my commune over the past few years," said Trung.

In the past four years, some 110 people in Vietnam have died from eating the fish, according to the country's Department of Food Hygiene and Safety. (dpa)