Fishermen rescued after 12 days of drifting at sea

A Binh Thuan Border Guard vessel sent to search the fishermen (Photo: VNA)

Binh Thuan (VNA) – Five additional survivors of fishing vessel BTh 97478 TS, which sank at sea on July 10, were rescued on the morning of July 22 by a pass-by ship.

According to the Committee for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue of Binh Thuan, at about 11am the same day, BUFFALO ship, en route from Egypt to China, found the five sailors on a basket boat drifting on waters around 214 nautical miles east of Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province.

All the survivors are in good health condition. The BUFFALO ship has been requested to change its course to Nha Trang to hand over the five crewmembers.

Fishing vessel BTh 97478 TS with 15 crewmembers on board lost its contact with the shore on the morning of July 10 while returning to Phan Thiet port in the south central province of Binh Thuan. The position where the vessel was found lost is about 84 nautical miles northwest of Phu Quy island in Binh Thuan, and about 126 nautical miles north-northwest of Phan Thiet port.

The 15 fishermen on board escaped in two basket boats, one carrying seven people and another with eight. The boat with seven people drifted towards the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

On July 19, four were rescued by a fishing vessel of Binh Dinh province. Three of them are in good health condition, while the rest is receiving treatment at Ninh Hoa General Hospital in Khanh Hoa./.

VNA