A 23-year-old fisherman who sustained a foot injury on board his vessel was rescued from the Hoang Sa waters in the morning of 7 November by rescue ship SAR 412 from the Da Nang-based Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre No 2.

The victim was being transferred to the rescue ship for initial first aid.

At around 1.43pm on 6 November, the Viet Nam Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Viet Nam MRCC) received an SOS message from fishing boat QNg 98848 TS from Quang Ngai Province operating to the north of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, reporting that one of their crewmen had sustained a foot injury.

The victim was Vo Van Toan and he had his nearly broken off after an unexpected labour accident, and he was unconscious due to severe blood loss.

Viet Nam MRCC 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 Institute of Marine Medicine to ask for first aid instructions.

Doctors giving initial first aid to the injured fisherman

However, the doctors diagnosed that the patient's health condition may turn worse. In an effort to save the injured fisherman, at 3.16pm on the same day, the Viet Nam MRCC asked the Da Nang MRCC to immediately send out its rescue ship SAR 412, carrying doctors from the Da Nang Emergency Centre 115, to help him.

At 8.45pm on the same day, SAR 412 reached the fishing boat, and the hurt fisherman was, then, transferred to the rescue ship for initial first aid.

At around 2.00am on 7 November, the victim was safely brought to a hospital in Da Nang for further treatment. Currently, the fisherman has overcome the critical conditions.