Four fishermen rescued after being lost at sea for 10 days off Binh Thuan province hinh anh 1A vessel of Binh Thuan Border Guard searches in the area where the fishing boat sank. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Four fishermen have been rescued 10 days after their boat went down off the central province of Binh Thuan near Phu Quy island, but the search for eight other crewmembers is ongoing.

The Office of the National Committee for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue said after receiving a report of the incident on July 10 it dispatched an airplane, while the Ministry of National Defence sent a ship to the scene.

At 9.30am on July 20, the rescue ship located a life vessel carrying seven crewmembers, but three had already succumbed to exhaustion. The four survivors will be sent to the mainland for treatment.

The rescued men said their fishing boat sank in strong seas, and the 15 workers on board escaped in two basket boats, one carrying seven people and another with eight. The seven-person boat drifted towards the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago

No information is available about the other boat.

The Ministry of National Defence is expected to dispatch more rescue aircraft on July 21.

In another move, four fishermen onboard 91464 TS fishing boat were rescued on July 20 by foreign ship PACIFICSPIRIT when their boat sank around 120 nautical miles off Khanh Hoa province./.

VNA