On 25 May, the coal carrier Cong Thanh 07 flooded and sank in rough seas off the coast of Vietnam’s Son Duong port, forcing the crew to abandon ship.
Cong Thanh 07 sank in about 30 meters of water, approximately six nautical miles from shore leaving the 10 crewmembers adrift. Fortunately in a large-scale coordinated rescue operation lasting over 12 hours, all 10 crew have now been safely recovered.
The Vietnam Maritime Administration reported that seven vessels were mobilized for the search. As reported, the first survivor was rescued by a fishing boat six hours after the incident, 17 nautical miles southwest of the sinking site. Following this, the national search and rescue coordination center expanded the search to a 30-nautical-mile strip extending southeast from where the first crewmember was found.
By midday, the rescue vessel SAR 631 recovered six more individuals and three others were found by nearby good Samaritans, successfully rescuing the entire crew.
