Vietnamese SAR Forces Rescue 10 Crewmembers After Bulker Sinks

Last weekend, a coal carrier flooded and sank off the coast of Vietnam's Son Duong port, forcing the crew to abandon ship quickly. In a remarkable large-scale operation spanning more than 12 hours, first responders found and rescued all 10 crewmembers from the water.  

At about 2100 hours on Sunday night, the bulker Cong Thanh 07 was under way at a position about six nautical miles off Son Duong when it began taking on water in rough seas. The vessel sank in about 30 meters of water. The crew abandoned ship and began to drift with the current.

Seven vessels were mobilized to participate in the search, according to the Vietnam Maritime Administration. The first survivor was rescued by a fishing boat at a position 17 nautical miles southwest of the location of the sinking, six hours after the casualty. 

After this initial rescue, the national SAR coordination center updated the search area to a 30-nautical-mile strip extending southeast from the place where the first crewmember was found. At 1200 hours, the search vessel SAR 631 found and rescued six more individuals; good Samaritans found another three more, bringing the total to 10 survivors - the entire crew.