At least three people are thought to have died when a Vietnamese vessel, Hoang Phuc 18, capsized off Ho Chi Minh City in the evening of October 30. Divers spent the weekend trying to rescue two or three seafarers believed to still be alive in the vessel’s flipped hull, the rescue made difficult by strong currents and inclement weather. 13 out of 18 crew had been rescued, with two believed to be alive in the hull, one confirmed dead and two more missing by Sunday morning.
The ship, loaded with 700 tons of stones and machinery, was anchored on the Soai Rap river in rough weather when it suddenly listed to starboard.
“We’d just finished dinner. It was about 7 pm,” one of the survivors, Tran Minh Sang, 30, said. It took only five minutes for the boat to capsize, he said.
Other reports suggest excavators and trucks on the upper deck shifted causing the capsize.
