At 5.15am on 13 September, the Da Nang Border Guard High Command received an SOS message from fishing boat DNa 90412 TS from Lien Chieu District.

Giving initial first aid to an injured fisherman

According to the boat’s crew members, captain Le Van Lo from the district’s Hoa Minh Ward was suffered from such food poisoning symptoms as vomiting, severe abdominal pain, and dizziness. At that time, he and his crewmates were fishing about 40 nautical miles off the Da Nang coast.

The municipal Border Guard High Command immediately asked the fishing boat to return to the mainland at a maximum speed, and helped the boat’s crew members to contact doctors from the Da Nang Emergency Centre 115 to ask for first aid instructions. However, the captain Lo died at 6.15am after the fishing boat moved only 5 nautical miles.

Thirty minutes later, the boat’s crew members continued sending an SOS message to report about fishermen namely Le Van Muoi, Le Van Nam and Nguyen Van Thuong, all from the Lien Chieu District, having similar symptoms with the died man’s.

Soon after, the Border Guard High Command sent out its rescue ship BP 081501, carrying doctors from the city’s Emergency Centre 115, to help the sick fishermen. At 8.25am on the same day, BP 081501 reached the fishing boat, and the victims were, then, transferred to the rescue ship for initial first aid.

At noon on the same day, ship BP 081501 docked at Flotilla 2’s port, and the victims were hospitalised in the Da Nang General Hospital for emergency treatment.

After that, the fishing boat DN 90412 TS was back to the Man Quang Border Guard Station. The Son Tra District border guard forces handed over the body of captain Le Van Lo to the relevant agencies for investigation.