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🇻🇳 Vietnam /Disasters & Emergencies

32 fishermen return after four-day ordeal, surviving on makeshift rafts and drops of water

From Thanh Niên · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Ongoing story
  • A fishing boat carrying 51 people capsized offshore after a violent waterspout appeared, and five fishermen were swept away.
  • The remaining 46 men spent four days at sea on makeshift rafts built from plastic containers, bamboo and debris, with little food or fresh water.
  • A rescue vessel found and took aboard 32 survivors on August 28, while others remained missing.

When the fishing boat overturned, 46 men were left clinging to makeshift rafts in the open sea, fighting hunger, thirst, exhaustion and the waves for four days.

The vessel, operating offshore from Da Nang with 51 people aboard, was struck suddenly by a violent waterspout. Fisherman Ngo Cong Vien, 37, said the boat tilted sharply and sank in about 10 minutes. Five people were swept away, while others were trapped inside or thrown from the vessel.

The waves hit hard, the boat tilted and then overturned. It sank in only about 10 minutes. Everything happened so fast that we barely had time to prepare.

· Ngo Cong VienHe recalled the boat’s sudden capsizing offshore.

The survivors gathered anything that could float. They tied together plastic containers, bamboo poles and objects recovered from the boat to make temporary rafts. With no food and only a small amount of fresh water left in floating containers, they drifted at sea under the hot sun and in rough conditions.

“Four days passed as 46 people drifted in the open sea, lying on the rafts and being carried by the current. We were hungry and cold, but all we could do was try to stay alive and hold on,” Vien said.

Four days passed as 46 people drifted in the open sea, lying on the rafts and being carried by the current. We were hungry and cold, but all we could do was try to stay alive and hold on.

· Ngo Cong VienHe described how the survivors endured the days before rescue.

As their strength faded, some fishermen could no longer hold on. “Everyone had run out of strength. When there was nothing left, people gave up and thought they would probably die,” Vien said.

A rescue vessel reached the group on the afternoon of August 28 and brought 32 people aboard. The others remained missing. Vien said he was too exhausted to fully understand what was happening when rescuers found him, after days at sea had left his body covered in injuries and badly weakened by exposure.

Everyone had run out of strength. When there was nothing left, people gave up and thought they would probably die.

· Ngo Cong VienHe recalled the survivors’ exhaustion as they drifted at sea.
About this summary

Originally published by Thanh Niên in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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