Salvage efforts to raise the sunken Víetsun Integrity container vessel continue. —VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The body of the last of the three divers killed during a salvage operation on a sunken container vessel in HCM City has been found and retrieved, the municipal port authority confirmed on Monday night.

The body of 36-year-old Đoàn Văn Hiếu was discovered downstream in the Lòng Tàu River in Cần Giờ District following an intensive search since he and two other divers went missing on December 11.

The others killed were Lê Đức Hòa, 33 and Cao Văn Lý, 44, whose bodies were found soon after the incident that also left two other people seriously injured.

The Vietnamese-flagged Vietsun Integrity vessel sank on Lòng Tàu River in October.

According to the police, the team began their salvage operation on December 11.

Hòa noticed the doors of the raising container burst open and decided to jump into the water trying to close the doors and save the goods inside.

He was met with some difficulties and immediately signalled for help from his team members.

Hiếu, Lý and other two others, Nguyễn Phúc Hậu, 28 and Nguyễn Văn Lâm, 34, all went down to the river to save Hòa.

The group managed to reach the mooring lines of the salvage crane ship but Hòa, Hiếu and Lý lost their grip and were swept away by the current.

Hậu and Lâm survived, but suffered from respiratory failure and were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Owned by Vietsun Corporation, the Vietsun Integrity ship had been travelling from HCM City to the northeastern port city of Hải Phòng when it sank at around 1.20am on October 19. Seventeen crew members survived but all 293 containers were lost under the water. — VNS