Vietnam: missing seamen after clinker ship sinks

Nine Vietnamese seafarers are listed as missing following a collision involving a clinker carrying ship off Vietnam’s southern coast on Tuesday morning.

The 3075dwt Hai Thanh 26-BLC, a 2010-built general cargo carrier, sank about 44 nautical miles to the east of Vung Tau City in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, according to local media, citing the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Centre.

The ship had been carrying a cargo of clinker from Hai Phong to Can Tho. Two crew members were saved by a passing oil tanker.

The cargo carrier’s master, one of the rescued, was reported by local media as saying that the ship sank very quickly while the crew were still asleep, and that he rushed to jump off the ship without sounding the alarm.

Vietnamese maritime authorities suspect that the missing crew members might be still trapped inside the sunken vessel. Rescue teams were said to have been sent to the site.

The other ship involved in the collision has yet to be identified, says local press.