Story of a survivor of a fishing boat that sank on the way to Quen creek

While being monitored at the Emergency Department of Quang Thanh General Hospital (Quynh Luu District), Mr. Tran Van Huu - one of the four crew members on the fishing boat that sank on the way to Lach Quen and was lucky to survive - is still in shock when recounting the life-and-death moment.

According to Mr. Huu: “On the afternoon of March 17, 2025, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong (captain) drove the fishing boat NA-80209-TS, 14.95m long, leaving Lach Quen port to sea about 20-30 nautical miles from the mainland to catch seafood, with 4 crew members on board.

When the ship sailed to the familiar fishing area, the crew had just caught their first catch when unfortunately the winch system broke down. The captain asked the crew to quickly collect the net and return to shore for repairs.

However, when the ship returned to port at coordinates 18052'N-105056'E (about 5-6 nautical miles from Mat Island), it was discovered that water was flooding into the ship's hold below. The crew determined that the cause was a leak in the water tap system right at the bottom of the ship.

During operation, the water system was turned on to cool the engine, but due to a blockage in the upper pipe, the water tap was opened, causing seawater to flood in. Before it could be fixed, the ship was immediately submerged by the seawater.

When the ship sank, none of the crew members had time to put on life jackets and quickly swam out of the ship. At this time, several foam covers of the ice cellar on the ship were floating on the water and were held by four crew members as buoys. Because there was not enough foam for each person, Captain Nguyen Van Cuong and crew member Le Anh Tuan clung to each other. After that, all four held hands to encourage each other, trying to hold on to the sea, waiting for the rescue force to come.

But after only 1 hour, due to the influence of the Northeast monsoon, the waves were so strong that all 4 crew members let go of their hands and clung to the foam to continue resisting.

“When everyone was no longer together, we still tried to call each other’s names so as not to lose contact. But the waves grew stronger, pushing each of us to different places.

As for me, I was very tired at that time, my limbs were weak, I had been immersed in the sea for many hours and did not have enough strength to overcome it anymore. I thought that if no one had discovered me soon, I would have died in this place. And then, after 30 hours since the ship sank, I had to cling to a piece of foam to stay afloat in the sea, suddenly a fishing boat from Ha Tinh discovered me, rescued me, and picked me up...", crew member Huu recalled.

When he was rescued and brought back to shore safely by the authorities, although his health had not yet recovered, crew member Tran Van Huu kept asking about the situation of his fellow crew members on the ship. According to Mr. Huu, after returning from working abroad in Taiwan, he applied to work on the fishing boat of Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong (captain) for 2 years. Mr. Huu currently has a wife and 2 young children of school age.

According to doctors at Quang Thanh General Hospital, when crew member Tran Van Huu was brought to the emergency room, he was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and needed to be monitored for rhabdomyolysis; treatment took 3-5 days to fully recover. Currently, Mr. Huu's health is stable.

Currently, the Ministry of National Defense has directed and mobilized one more ship of the Coast Guard and another ship of the Border Guard Squadron 38, which are on duty in the sea area, to participate in the search for the three missing victims: Nguyen Van Cuong (born in 1980) and Le Tuan Anh (born in 2005), residing in Van Hai commune, and Bui Sy Nhat (born in 1977), residing in Thuan Long commune, Quynh Luu district.

Among the three missing crew members, Le Tuan Anh (born 2005) is the youngest. It is known that Anh has just graduated from the Maritime College and is waiting for his degree. Taking advantage of his free time, he applied for a job to earn extra income to support his family when he unfortunately met with the accident.

Thus, up to this point, more than 2 days have passed, the whereabouts of the remaining 3 missing fishermen have not been found. Authorities are still urgently conducting rescue and search operations with the hope that a miracle will come to them.

Previously, as reported by baonghean.vn, at 6:00 p.m. on March 18, 2025, fishing boat NA-80209-TS, piloted by Captain Nguyen Van Cuong and 3 crew members, had an accident while on its way to Quen creek, in the sea about 5-6 nautical miles from Mat island (at coordinates 18052'N-105056'E). The cause of the sinking is currently unknown.

The four missing people on board the ship include: Captain: Nguyen Van Cuong (born in 1980); Chief Engineer Tran Van Huu (born in 1995), both residing in Van Hai commune, Quynh Luu district, and two crew members: Le Tuan Anh (born in 2005), residing in Van Hai commune; Bui Sy Nhat (born in 1977), residing in Thuan Long commune, Quynh Luu district.

Fishing vessel NA-80209-TS has a capacity of 320 CV, manufactured in 2011 in Nghe An. The vessel departed from Lach Quen on March 17, 2025.