1.
Motorbikes waiting at checkpoint
3 ft

2.
Soldier checking ID cards of drivers (5)
19 ft

3.
Motorbikes loaded with supplies
21 ft

4.
Motorbikes starting off
0.24

5.
Soldier searching load
0.28

6.
Checkpoint
0.38

7.
Soldiers closing road with wire
0.45



Initials



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Highway 13 in South Vietnam was opened to civilian traffic recently after being closed for more than nine months following the 1972 communist offensive.

Communist forces are still occupying a three-mile section between Lai Khe and Chon Thanh, but under special arrangements made after the sighing of the second Paris ceasefire agreement, civilian food convoys are now permitted to travel the road.

The first vehicles to go through the road blocks earlier this month were motorbikes carrying vital food and fuel supplies to villages in the area.

The South Vietnamese troops along the road checked each motorbike carefully before allowing then through. Vietcong forces further down the road were reported to let the convoys through without any trouble and the supply shortages in the area are gradually being eased.