Vietnamese cargo ship sinks off SL

31 October 2012 08:18 am

The Vietnamese cargo ship Saigon Queen, with a crew of 22 on board, sank off Sri Lanka yesterday. Eighteen crewmembers have been rescued while the four others, including the captain, remain missing, the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Center (MRCC) reported.

15 of the 18 crew members of Saigon Queen who were rescued yesterday. Photo: Pacific Skipper

At 12:12 pm on October 30, the MRCC received emergency signals indicating a potentially hazardous situation from the Saigon Queen while it was transporting wood products from Myanmar to India.

The ship had rolled from side to side, causing the cargo on board to shift, forcing sailors to re-fasten the goods, the ship reported.

However, soon thereafter the MRCC lost all contact with the ship because of weather conditions in the area.

The MRCC then coordinated with the Vietnam Shipping Communications and Electronics Company (Vishipel) in releasing urgent messages calling for rescue efforts from the Sri Lankan search and rescue force, the US Coast Guard, India’s Chennai MRCC, and other ships that were operating nearby.

At 9:20 pm, rescuers from the Cyprus-flagged Pacific Skipper saved three crewmembers and maintained contact with 15 others who were adrift on their life rafts after the ship sank. All these people were rescued later.

Saigon Queen before it sunk off Sri Lanka on the night of October 30 (Photo: Vietnam MRCC)

Meanwhile, four other crewmen, including captain Nguyen Minh Luan, 51, chief mechanic Hoang Van Ban, 58, Tran Van De, 54, a mechanic, and Pham Phu Huu, 27, a sailor, were reported missing. Search efforts were commenced at once.

However, by last night there had been no further information about the fate of the missing sailors.

Search and rescue activities are still underway.

The distressed ship is nearly 103 meters long and about 17 meters wide, and has a tonnage of 6,500 DWT.

The ship is owned by the Saigon Shipping Joint Stock Company and was built in 2006 by the Saigon Shipbuilding Industry Co, an affiliate of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin). (Tuoitre News)