One Dead, 16 Rescued After Freighter Hits Vietnamese Fishing Boat
One Vietnamese fisherman was killed and 16 others were rescued after a collision between a coastal cargo ship and a small purse seiner off the southern coast of Vietnam.
On Monday morning, the cargo ship Viet Thuan 11-07 got under way from the port of Nui Thanh, headed for a port district in Ho Chi Minh City. At a position about seven nautical miles east of Tien Phu, a coastal village to the east of Ho Chi Minh, the ship collided with BTh 98379 TS, a 50-foot coastal fishing boat. The seiner had gotten under way from its home port that morning and was nearing the end of a 10-hour trip to the fishing grounds.
The force of the impact capsized the fishing vessel, and the 17 members of the crew were all thrown over the side. The crew took refuge atop the capsized vessel, and they pulled one shipmate who was in distress up onto the hull; the man - who had an underlying health condition - could not be revived, survivor Nguyen Van Khanh told local outlet Bao Lam Dong.
"The cargo ship collided with the fishing boat, causing it to tilt to one side. Many of us were asleep at the time; those who were awake managed to jump into the water, while those who were asleep were thrown into the sea," survivor Nguyen Huu Tri told Bao Lam Dong.
The survivors were rescued by a nearby good Samaritan fishing vessel, and all but the skipper - who remained on scene to watch over the capsized wreck - returned to shore at Phu Hai.
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The cargo ship was detained and diverted to a nearby anchorage at Phan Thiet for an investigation.
Viet Thuan 11-07 is a brand new 11,000 dwt general cargo ship flagged in Vietnam. The operator owns or manages a substantial bulker fleet with a total capacity of more than one million deadweight tonnes, including coastal, riverine and deep-sea vessels.
