How were the 7 surviving crew members on the VTB 26 rescued?

(Baonghean.vn) - Among the surviving crew members, a mechanic swam to Ngu Island, while two others were found swimming near Nghi Thiet beach, about 5 km from the sunken ship.

On the afternoon of July 20, authorities also identified the body that was found by a team of divers in the second floor compartment of the ship this morning. Colleagues on the ship confirmed that the body was that of first mate Nguyen Van Xuan (from Thanh Hoa).

The border guards also handed over the body to Xuan's relatives to take home for burial. The two remaining missing people are deck officer Nguyen Van Chieu and OS sailor Nguyen Hai Quyet.

As an officer who participated in the search for the past 4 days, Captain Hoang Nghia Duy (Deputy Head of the Border Guard Station of Cua Lo - Ben Thuy), assessed that there were likely still crew members trapped in the sunken ship. At the time of the sinking, Captain Duy was the commander on duty at the border guard station.

Captain Duy shared with PV of Nghe An Newspaper. Photo. PV

“At around 2am on July 17, I received information from the Lam Hong 99 ship informing me that the VTB 26 ship had sent out a distress signal. At that time, the Lam Hong 99 was not capable of moving to the area where the VTB 26 was in distress,” Captain Duy said, adding that he immediately reported to his superiors to find a rescue plan. A few minutes later, the deputy station chief called the Lam Hong 99 ship again and was informed that the ship had no longer received a signal from the VTB 26 ship. “Based on this information and on the accounts of the surviving crew members, I think it took only about 10 minutes from the time the ship sent out a distress signal until it sank,” Captain Duy told a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper.

At this time, the VTB 26 ship was anchored about 3 nautical miles from shore, about 800 meters northwest of Ngu Island. This was also the area where the eye of storm No. 2 passed through, with strong gusts of wind and several meter high waves, no ship could approach the location where the VTB 26 ship sank. At around 7:00 a.m., when the wind had decreased, the search force was able to mobilize vehicles and participate in the rescue. Nghe An province also decided to establish a field command post at Nghe An Maritime Port Authority. The rescue force mobilized nearly 600 people along with dozens of ships and boats of all kinds.

Khiem (in black shirt) is the one who swam to Ngu Island, about 800 meters from the sunken ship. Photo: Tien Hung.

At around 8am, the rescue ship discovered three people floating near the sunken ship, including captain Pham Van Hai, chief engineer Nguyen Van Sang and mechanic Ly Van Giang. All three victims were immediately brought aboard to be warmed up, then transferred to the hospital.

At around 10am, the search team spotted a man trying to climb onto Ngu Island. “I immediately called the island leader there to send some men down to bring this man up,” Captain Duy said. The sailor was Dang Duy Khiem (a mechanic, 23 years old, from Thai Binh). Khiem told Captain Duy that after the ship was hit by the waves, water quickly flooded into the hold. A door near the sailor’s position was blown open by the force of the water. While struggling, Khiem quickly grabbed the door and held on to it. After floating for about 8 hours, he drifted to Ngu Island. While climbing onto the island, the sailor was injured by a barnacle living on the rocks near the island. Khiem was then taken to the island by the border guards for care.

Divers search for crew members. Photo: Thanh Duy.

Currently, this sailor is still at the scene to assist in the search. All 13 crew members on the ship were very young. Among the deceased, sailor Le Dac Tai (from Thanh Hoa), was only 22 years old. "On the ship, I was close friends with Tai, he couldn't swim. He was very afraid of water. We took him to the sea many times to practice swimming but he still couldn't," Khiem told Captain Duy.

At the same time Khiem was found, rescuers found two sailors, Ngo Cao Cuong and Vu Van Dat, swimming near Nghi Thiet beach. “This area is about 5 km from the sunken ship. When found, one person was only about 50 meters from shore. The other person was about 300 meters away and was rescued by a coast guard ship,” said Captain Duy.

More than an hour later, the rescue ship discovered the body drifting in the Cua Hoi sea area, near buoy number 0. Continuing the search, at around 1:30 p.m., the rescue team received information that a body was floating near the sunken ship, so they sent a ship to retrieve it. When they reached the area, they discovered another crew member still alive, floating near the body. After nearly half a day of floating at sea, when discovered, this person only had enough strength to wave his arms.

Bringing the body of Lieutenant Colonel Xuan to shore. Photo: Tien Hung.

By the end of July 17, the rescue team had found nine crew members, seven of whom were rescued. “We also determined that among the four missing crew members, there was a high possibility that some were trapped in the ship. However, at that time, it was windy and rainy, and the sea water was murky, so after surveying, it was impossible to send divers to search,” said Captain Duy. On the second day of searching, the rescue team still did not find anyone despite deploying dozens of ships to actively search.

On the morning of July 19, 10 professional divers were brought from Hai Phong to the sunken ship. A few hours later, they discovered the body of engineer officer Nguyen Van Duong trapped in the second-floor cabin. On the morning of July 20, the group continued to find the body of first mate Nguyen Van Xuan in the second-floor cabin area, buried under mud.

As the person directly responsible for handing over the surviving crew members and the bodies to the victims' families, Captain Duy said that most of the crew members' families were in difficult circumstances. "As for crew member Khiem, his family has not yet come to visit him," Captain Duy said.

Tien Hung