After receiving an SOS message, at noon on 31 May, from Quang Nam Province’s squid fishing boat QNa 90927, the Zone II Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Da Nang MRCC) sent out rescue ship SAR 412 to help a crew member in distress.

Earlier on 29 May, 47-year-old Pham Thanh Ngoc had suffered from a heart failure whilst his boat had been fishing for squid on the southeastern side of the Hoang Sa Archipelago, about 410 nautical miles off the Da Nang coast.

Rescuers transfering the sick fisherman to their ship (Photo: thanhnien.com.vn)

While the rescue ship was en route to the patient, a Chinese naval ship approached very close and threatened Vietnamese rescue ship.  However, the Vietnamese rescuers were not scared of Chinese ship’s threat, and they were determined to bring the sick fisherman to the mainland for treatment.

Finally, the rescue ship reached the fishing boat in the early morning of 1 June, and brought the patient to the mainland for further treatment in the evening of the same day.