Divers begin searching for 4 missing crew members of VTB 26 ship in Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn)- 10 divers, divided into 5 teams, each team of 2 people dives for 10-15 minutes. If a dead victim is found, the divers will put the body in a rescue bag to recover and transfer it to the ship.

» Ship sinking in Nghe An: Divers and trawlers mobilized to search for 4 missing crew members

» Why did the VTB 26 ship carrying 4,700 tons of coal have an accident at sea?

9:40:This morning, the Forward Command received information that a body was found drifting in the waters of Nghe An. They have sent people to the area to verify and search.

After more than 2 days of searching, the 4 crew members of the VTB 26 ship that capsized in the Hon Ngu sea area in the early morning of July 17 have not been found. Although the rescue ships have been searching the sea, they have not found the crew members. After discussion, the rescue forces decided to use a divers team to approach the VTB 26 ship to search for the crew members.

At 6:00 a.m., SAR 274 approached the area where VTB 26 capsized and sank.

At 5:00 a.m. on July 19, SAR 274 of the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center brought a team of professional divers from Hai Phong to the area where the VTB 26 ship sank to search for the four missing crew members.

At 6am, SAR 274 approached VTB 26. The location of the sunken VTB 26 was more than 3 nautical miles from shore, about 800m north of Ngu Island. This area is about 10m deep. The weather at Cua Lo sea area is calm, with light rain.

Also participating in the rescue were SAR 411 ship of the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center and rescue ship of Squadron 2, Provincial Border Guard.

To have the most effective search plan, on July 18, the Vietnam Maritime Administration sent a team of divers to the scene to survey. Here, the area where the ship sank was murky, with waves rolling around the ship, which significantly affected the search.

The VTB ship capsized and lay in the middle of a whirlpool.

Because the area where the ship capsized was located near the rocks, SAR vessels could not get close. The divers were boarded by a fishing boat and a lifeboat to get closer to the sunken ship.

Directing the search at the scene, Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh - Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center (SAR) said, based on professional and scientific measures and interviews with witnesses, we found that there was a high possibility that the crew members were stuck on the ship.

According to Mr. Tinh, the diving team will be divided into 5 diving teams, each team will have two people taking turns going into the deck of the capsized ship to check. If a deceased victim is found, the divers will put the body in a rescue bag to salvage and transfer it to the ship.

Fishing boat carrying diving team to approach sunken ship.

Divers prepare to dive down to find the crew.

If the diving team does not find or does not find enough crew members, the rescue team will use two pairs of fishing trawlers to sweep around the area where the ship sank.

Besides using diving methods, rescue ships at sea are still actively expanding the search area. Another option, if it is too difficult due to big waves and rising tides, the victim may be pushed into the high cliffs on the northwest side of Hon Ngu Island, the rescue team will consider using a flycam to check the area with many rocky reefs.

Reporter group