Search halted for two missing crew members of sunken ship.

(Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of July 25th, due to the impact of Typhoon No. 4, rescue forces have stopped searching for the two crew members still missing from the VTB 26 shipwreck that occurred more than a week ago. Rescue vessels have now been moved to anchorages to avoid the storm.

The rescue vessels have now stopped searching and are seeking shelter from the storm. Photo: Tien Hung

Regarding responsibility for the shipwreck, Mr. Vuong Binh Minh, Director of the Nghe An Maritime Port Authority, said that the unit has just submitted a detailed report to the Vietnam Maritime Administration.

According to Mr. Minh, on the afternoon of July 10th, the unit received notification that the VTB 26 vessel, with a tonnage of over 5,100 tons carrying 4,700 tons of coal from Quang Ninh to Cua Lo port, had arrived at the Ben Thuy Port Authority. The Port Authority then allowed the vessel to anchor near Ngu Island to await further instructions.

“Normally, when a ship approaches the port, the shipowner plans the delivery based on the buyer's needs. At the same time, the shipowner works with the port to arrange the time, berth, loading and unloading equipment, warehousing, etc. Based on that situation, both parties will come up with a common plan, and they only need to notify the port authority representative to allow the ship to enter the port to deliver the goods,” Mr. Minh said. However, this ship was anchored nearly 3 nautical miles from the port for 5 days without any plan to enter the port to deliver the goods.

A team of divers is participating in the search for the missing crew members after the ship sank. Photo: PV.

On July 15th, the port authority received a dispatch regarding the development of the tropical depression from the Vietnam Maritime Administration. Immediately, the port authority issued a notice requesting 47 ships and vessels operating or anchored in the waters of Nghe An province to urgently move to safe shelters to avoid the storm.

A day later, as the storm was about to hit Nghe An, the port authority issued another notice to port businesses, ship owners, captains, etc., requesting them to immediately implement storm prevention measures and move vessels to safe locations. For vessels that were slow to move, the port authority's duty officer contacted the captains and ship agents directly, requesting them to order the vessels to urgently move to storm shelter areas such as Hon Me, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, etc. However, the captain of VTB 26 did not comply.

"We knew they wouldn't move, but we couldn't do anything. Because the wind was gusting strongly at that time, our unit's vehicles couldn't get there to chase them away," Mr. Minh said, adding that the captain of VTB 26 may have been overconfident in the face of typhoon number 2.

Currently, rescue forces have found 7 survivors and 4 bodies of crew members. Photo: Tien Hung

Earlier, in the early morning of July 17th, the VTB 26 vessel, anchored near Ngư Island, had its anchor ropes broken by a storm. The ship quickly sank, and many people fell into the sea. To date, 7 crew members have been rescued and brought safely ashore. Rescue forces have also found 4 bodies of crew members. Two crew members remain missing: Nguyen Van Chieu (29 years old, deck officer) and Nguyen Hai Quyet (26 years old, sailor), both from Hai Phong./.

Tien Hung