Request to change contractor because after nearly half a year, the sunken ship in Nghe An still cannot be salvaged

On the morning of January 22, Mr. Vuong Binh Minh - Director of Nghe An Maritime Port Authority said that one day before, Director of Maritime Administration Nguyen Xuan Sang directly went to the scene of the shipwreck that occurred in mid-July 2017 at Cua Lo beach to inspect the salvage progress. During the inspection, the head of Maritime Administration proposed to suspend the salvage activities of the contractor, Minh Thu Company Limited.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sang also directed the authorities to quickly find another contractor to complete the salvage work before March 15. "The Director proposed to suspend the company because it is not qualified. We are currently waiting for the official conclusion of the working group to implement the next steps," said Mr. Vuong Binh Minh.

The area where the VTB 26 ship sank is in Cua Lo sea area. Photo: Tien Hung

Previously, at around 2am on July 17, the VTB 26 ship carrying 4,700 tons of coal sent a distress signal while anchoring to avoid the storm at Hon Ngu Island (Nghe An). The ship then capsized, many crew members fell into the sea. On the first day of rescue, 7 crew members were rescued along with 2 other bodies. The remaining 4 people are missing. The ship sank about 3 nautical miles from shore, about 800m north of Hon Ngu Island. This area is about 10m deep.

To date, two victims are still missing: deck officer Nguyen Van Chieu (29 years old) and sailor Nguyen Hai Quyet (26 years old, both from Hai Phong). The VTB 26 ship is nearly 100 meters long, more than 15 meters wide, and has a tonnage of nearly 6,000 tons.

To date, two crew members are still missing, suspected to be trapped on the ship. Photo: Tien Hung

Relatives of the crew members have repeatedly protested that the two missing victims were still trapped in the ship, while the salvage company's search was too slow. On August 10, more than 3 weeks after the ship sank, the salvage was started by Minh Thu Company with a total cost of 4.5 billion VND and expected to be completed in 15 days. However, on September 6, the VTB 26 ship was raised about 1/3 above the water surface when the cable broke and the crane collapsed, so the salvage work had to be temporarily suspended.

The company then had to hire another salvage company in Nghe An to increase its resources and repeatedly gave an estimated time to complete the salvage, however, nearly half a year later, the thousand-ton ship was still submerged at the bottom of the sea.

Relatives of the missing crew members on the VTB 26. Photo: Tien Hung

Previously, sharing with Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Vuong Binh Minh said that the choice of contractor responsible for the salvage was decided by the ship owner. “More than 10 days after the ship sank, on July 28, we sent a written notice to the ship owner to urgently implement the salvage plan within 5 days. If after this deadline the company still has not implemented it, we will look for a salvage unit ourselves,” said Mr. Minh.

In the meantime, Nghe An Maritime Port Authority has also sent invitations to 6 companies specializing in salvage, including 3 companies in Nghe An, to hear them present their salvage plans and capabilities in case the ship owner does not carry it out.

“On the 4th day, the ship owner, An Hai Company, announced that they had found a salvage partner, Minh Thu Company. They informed us that the two sides were negotiating. So we temporarily suspended the appointment of other salvage contractors,” said Mr. Minh, adding that during this process, the contract negotiations between Minh Thu Company and the ship owner and the Port Authority were not informed. Although the Port Authority also requested the contractor to urgently submit a salvage plan for approval, it was not until August 7 that the Nghe An Maritime Port Authority received the salvage plan. Since then, nearly half a year has passed, and the salvage seems to have had no results.