Vietnamese fishing boat sunk by foreign ship in Hoang Sa

On the evening of January 9, the Standing Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue of Binh Dinh province said that at 2:00 p.m. on January 9, fishing boat BD 95207 TS was fishing for tuna when it was hit by a foreign transport ship (number unknown) and then fled in the sea area with coordinates 16033'N - 113044'E, about 60 nautical miles southeast of Lin Con Island (Hoang Sa archipelago).

Fishing boat BD 95207 TS (610CV capacity) owned and captained by Mr. Pham Tiet (in Tam Quan Bac commune, Hoai Nhon district, Binh Dinh), with 8 crew members on board.

SAR 412 ship tows fishing boat of fishermen from Binh Dinh in distress at sea to mainland - Illustration photo: Hoang Trong

Immediately after receiving the news, the Standing Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue of Binh Dinh province requested the Border Guard Command of Binh Dinh province, the provincial Fisheries Sub-Department, and Quy Nhon Radio to search and notify ships operating in the area to assist the ship in distress.

The Binh Dinh Provincial Border Guard Command has directed Border Guard Station 308 to send officers to regularly contact the ship owner's family and crew to encourage and grasp information about the ship in distress.

At 5:30 p.m. the same day, 8 fishermen on the distressed boat boarded the BD 97370TS boat of Mr. Nguyen Minh Thi (Tam Quan Bac commune, Hoai Nhon district, with the same fishing team) and were safely rescued.

However, because the ship BD 95207TS has completely sunk and the ship BD 97370TS must continue its fishing journey, the search and rescue agency has requested to dispatch a ship to bring the victims of the ship BD 95207TS back to shore.

According to Thanh Nien