A crew member is saved from the ship wreck in Hà Tĩnh Province's water. Photo baobacgiang.vn

HÀ TĨNH — A coal-carrying ship travelling from the northern province of Quảng Ninh to central province Quảng Bình sank off the coast of Hà Tĩnh Province, leaving crew members missing, reported the Hà Tĩnh Maritime Port Authority on Monday (May 26).

The port authority was working closely with relevant agencies and local authorities to search for the missing crew members.

According to the report, at around 8:40pm on Sunday, the Hà Tĩnh Maritime Port Authority received a distress signal from the ship named Công Thành 07, stating that the vessel had suffered an engine failure, was listing, and taking on water.

At the time of the incident, the vessel was approximately nine nautical miles from Vũng Áng port, within Hà Tĩnh waters.

Upon receiving the alert, the port authority immediately contacted the Border Guard Command of Vũng Áng – Sơn Dương Port and other relevant agencies to mobilise multiple rescue vessels and resources.

However, due to adverse weather conditions in Hà Tĩnh in recent days, the rescue efforts faced significant difficulties despite having been promptly mobilised.

By around 9:30pm on the same day, the Công Thành 07 sank and the crew abandoned ship.

Following the incident, rescue forces, along with local fishing boats, joined the search for the missing crew.

However, high waves and strong winds posed considerable challenges to the search operation. At around 5:45 am on Monday a fishing vessel discovered one crew member drifting at sea and successfully rescued him.

Initial information indicated that the Công Thành 07 had a gross cargo weight of nearly 5,200 tonnes and was carrying 4,900 tonnes of coal from Quảng Ninh to Quảng Bình.

The vessel had a crew of eleven.

As of now, search and rescue efforts are ongoing, and ten crew members remain unaccounted for.

The Border Guard Command of Vũng Áng – Sơn Dương Port has also coordinated with the Border Guard Force of Quảng Bình to expand the search area for the missing crew in the Vũng Áng sea region. — VNS