Search and rescue continued to look for the missing victims in the aftermath of boat collision in Thác Bà Lake that left six unaccounted for.

LÀO CAI — Six people remain missing following a waterway traffic accident on Thác Bà Lake in northern mountainous province of Lào Cai on Saturday evening, local authorities said.

Tạ Quang Công, Chairman of Bảo Ái Commune People’s Committee, said the incident occurred at around 6pm, in Thác Bà – a reservoir lake created in the construction of the hydropower plant of the same name and is now also a popular tourist site. Rescue forces were deployed immediately and continued search operations late into the evening.

By 9:30pm, functional forces were still working urgently at the scene to locate the missing victims.

According to preliminary information, at about 7:15pm a stone-carrying ferry bearing registration number YB-0919H, operated by Nguyễn Văn Thâm, born in 1984, collided with a passenger vessel numbered YB-087H, operated by 31-year-old Triệu Đức Nội, with 22 people on board.

Following the impact, the passenger vessel sank.

Authorities said 17 people have been rescued and are now in stable condition, while six others remain missing.

The missing passengers were identified as Hoàng Văn Thuận (born 1983), Hoàng Thị Tuyết (1966), Triệu Thị Huân (1978), Hoàng Thị Thanh Thúy (2012), Hoàng Đức Mạnh (2015) and Hoàng Thị Hoa (1970).

Local authorities, police and rescue teams are continuing search efforts overnight as investigations into the cause of the accident are underway. — VNS