Police in Vietnam say they're increasingly concerned by the number of young people taking part in illegal motorbike races.

According to local reports, one recent race in the southern Vietnamese resort of Vung Tau began at one o'clock in the morning and attracted no fewer than ten-thousand bikers.

Another resulted in a young man's death when several bikes collided.

The police say illegal racing is widespread among schoolchildren and university students; whenever they try to make arrests, the bikers just speed off.

The BBC Hanoi correspondent says in Vietnam's tightly-controlled society, youngsters have few other opportunities to escape the strict rules imposed by their families and the communist authorities.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service