Viet Nam authorities on Monday halted using planes to look for the Bulk Jupiter, which sank off the southern city of Vung Tau last Friday, leaving 16 of its 19 Philippine crewmembers missing, the National Committee for Search and Rescue said.

The information was released by Major General Nguyen Van Binh, deputy chief of the committee’s Secretariat and deputy head of the Rescue and Salvage Department under the Ministry of Defense.

Over the past three days, search and rescue forces from the committee and the Viet Nam People’s Army have mobilized dozens of ships – including fishing boats – to search for the sunken ship and the missing sailors, with the support of many foreign vessels, the official said.

The Bahamas-flagged cargo vessel Bulk Jupiter

Immediately after receiving a report about the incident, the committee has since last Friday also deployed many planes to search for the sunken Bahamas-flagged ship and the missing sailors in a vast sea area off Vung Tau.

However, except for saving one crewmember, the ship’s chef, Rojas Angelito Capindo, 43, and recovering two bodies drifting at sea, one of which was the ship’s captain, Andrin Ronel Acueza, 46, while the other was the third Officer, Dinoy Jerome Maquilang, 23, the joint rescue forces have yet to find any more sailors or signs of the sunken ship, the official said.

Meanwhile, bad weather hampered the search on Monday, Pham Hien, vice president of the Vung Tau Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which is leading the search, told Reuters.

“The weather is very bad with high waves and strong winds,” he said.

The committee has therefore decided to temporarily stop the deployment of planes, Major General Binh said.

Those ships that have been mobilized to search for the sunken vessel and its missing sailors over the past three days have also been ordered to resume their previous normal operations, but they are also asked to continue watching and be ready to take part in rescue and salvage activities when requested, Binh said.