A fishing boat sank at sea while rescuing 8 crew members in distress.

Hoang Tao• October 10, 2020 15:35

After about 30 minutes at sea, the fishing boat approached the ship in distress, but while the fishermen were trying to throw out the rescue rope, the fishing boat was suddenly sunk by the waves.

On the morning of October 10, more than 100 people including military, border guards, coast guard and local people gathered on the shore of Trieu An commune (Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri) to continue rescuing 8 crew members on the Vietship 01 ship, which was stranded 400m from shore. According to observations at the scene, the rain had stopped but the wind was still very strong and the waves were large.
At 8:40,fishing boatwith 4 fishermen set sail, heading towards the cargo ship. Many locals commented that, with the current weather, "the best time to approach the stranded ship is from 10am to 2pm". They asked Quang Tri authorities to support a large-capacity canoe on shore to be ready to respond.

Efforts to rescue fishermen of sunken ship.

After about 30 minutes at sea, the fishing boat approached the Vietship 01 ship but while the fishermen were trying to throw the rope,rescue, the fishing boat was suddenly sunk by the waves. One fisherman fell into the sea, drifted south and swam to shore; the other three fishermen clung to the stranded boat, climbed onto the iron frame protruding above the water.

Fisherman Nguyen Duc Bang (52 years old, residing in Cua Viet town, Gio Linh district, Quang Tri), who swam to shore, said that on the cargo ship "there were still 8 crew members, their health looked somewhat impaired but they were still holding on, one of them had a broken leg".

According to Mr. Bang, "given the distance from the stranded cargo ship to the shore, fishermen familiar with the sea can swim in; as for the crew members, observations show that the waves and winds are very strong, and the eddy currents do not ensure safety for them to swim in. On the other hand, after more than 2 days of being stranded, the health of the crew members has also declined."
Faced with the sinking of the fishing boat, the rescue team came up with a plan to buy another fishing boat and mobilize 2 to 3 more fishermen and maritime rescue workers to go out to sea and approach the Vietship 01.

It is expected that maritime rescue workers will use a gun to shoot a rope across the stranded cargo ship, after which the crew and fishermen on this ship will climb over the fishing boat. In addition, a rubber boat is being rushed from Da Nang to Quang Tri to serve the rescue.
"The priority task at this time is to save people. Make use of every hour and every minute to save the crew members, while the weather is still complicated," said Mr. Vo Van Hung, Chairman of Quang Tri People's Committee.
Explaining why the authorities did not use modern means for rescue but mobilized fishing boats, Colonel Le Van Phuong - Commander of Quang Tri Border Guard said that the weather conditions were very difficult, with big waves and strong winds, and modern means could not reach the scene, so "they had to use rudimentary means and the fishermen's experience at sea".