On Monday, the Zone II Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Da Nang MRCC) received an SOS message from Mr Le Van Mai, captain of fishing boat QNa 95979 from Quang Nam Province. 

The rescue ship towing the fishing boat into Da Nang (Photo: www.tienphong.vn)

The boat with 6 on board had a broken propeller when it was fishing on the western side of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.  The ship began to sink in the strong winds and rough seas with 3m-high waves.

At 12.30pm the same day, Da Nang MRCC sent out its rescue ship SAR 412 to help the boat in distress.  Reaching the scene some 4 hours later, the rescue boat began towing it back to the mainland.

The boat and its crew safely arrived in Da Nang at 8.30am on Tuesday.