At 10.12am on 27 July, fishing boat DNa 90136 TS from Da Nang’s Thank Khe District, with a crew of 31 onboard, suffered engine failure whilst fishing in the Hoang Sa waters, about 270 nautical miles northeast of the Da Nang coast. 

The boat began drifting and faced bad weather conditions, with strong winds of levels 6 and 7, and rough seas.

After receiving an SOS message from the boat, the Zone II Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Da Nang MRCC) immediately sent out its rescue ship SAR 274 to help the victims.  The centre also ensured close contact with other maritime search and rescue agencies in the central region to help the boat in distress.

Fishing boat DNa 90136 TS (left) being towed by the rescue ship (Photo: vnexpress.net)

Forty-five hours later, the rescue ship reached the fishing boat which was then at latitude 17°14'N and longitude 111°08'E, about 10 nautical miles northwest of the Hoang Sa Archipelago’s Da Bac Island.  At the time, all its crew members were physically exhausted after many hours of battling the huge waves and high wind.

By 5:30pm on Wednesday, the fishing boat had been successfully towed back to the mainland.

The boat's captain, Mr Ho Van Anh, said that hard acceleration of the engine caused the breakdown and the crew members were unable to handle the incident. 

He added that the boat drifted near a location in the northeast of the archipelago where China’s military drill was being conducted.  The fishing boat was not pursued by the Chinese because it gave an immediate international emergency signal.  Da Nang MRCC asked Chinese maritime search and rescue agencies to help the boat, and Chinese ships gave necessary support before rescue ship SAR 274 arrived at the scene.

Following the successful rescue of the boat, rescuers from ship SAR 274 were honoured by Da Nang MRCC for their great efforts in the rescue work.  Some representatives from Da Nang MRCC and the municipal Border Guard High Command also gave gifts to the rescued fishermen.