Vietnamese agencies are exerting efforts to search for an oil tanker with 18 people on board that went missing after leaving Singapore for Vietnam several days ago.

Being informed of the news, the Consular Department under the Foreign Ministry sent diplomatic notes to the embassies of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia in Hanoi asking for their help.

It also asked Vietnam’s representative offices in these countries to work with local agencies to check up information relating to the lost ship.

According to the National Committee for Search and Rescue and the Vietnam Maritime Security Centre, the ship Sunrise 689 of the Hai Phong Seafood Shipbuilding Joint Stock Company left Singapore’s Horizon port in the late afternoon of October 2, carrying over 5,200 tonnes of oil.

It was scheduled to arrive at Con Son island in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on October 5, but only 40 minutes after the ship left Singapore, the company lost contact with it.-VNA