Tearful relatives await news of victims after Vietnam boat capsizes
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The tourist vessel being towed ashore in Quang Ninh, Vietnam, on July 20.
PHOTO: EPA
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HALONG BAY, Vietnam - Relatives anxiously sat beside ambulances on the wharf of one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist sites on July 20, waiting for news of loved ones who were on a tourist boat that capsized the day before, killing dozens.
Fruits and flowers were laid on the coast for the 35 killed in the wreckage, in what some have called Halong Bay’s worst-ever disaster.
The tourist vessel called Wonder Sea was carrying 49 people, including three crew members, around the Unesco World Heritage Site, according to provincial police.
Previous state media reports said 53 people were on board and 37 people had died, but the figures were later revised by the police.
Most of those on board were families visiting from the capital Hanoi, with more than 20 children among the passengers, state media outlet VNExpress said.
The police said 35 bodies had been recovered and 10 people rescued by July 20, with four people still missing.
One of those rescued, a 10-year-old boy, told state media outlet VietnamNet: “I took a deep breath, swam through a gap, dived then swam up, I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat with soldiers on it.”
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences on July 19 to relatives of those killed and called on the defence and public security ministries to conduct urgent search and rescue operations.
Mr Hoang Quang rushed from Hanoi to Quang Ninh province at 2am on July 20 for news of his cousin and her family, who were on the boat when it capsized.
The tourist vessel was carrying 49 people, including three crew members, when it capsized at the Unesco World Heritage site because of sudden heavy rain.
PHOTO: VIETNAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
The couple – a housewife and fruit seller married to a bus driver – had “tried their best” to afford the trip around the world-famous bay.
“They found the body of (the husband), not my cousin yet,” Mr Quang told AFP.
He was “so shocked” when he heard news of the incident and immediately went to the wharf with other worried family members.
“Suddenly, the victims were my relatives – anyone would be scared. We didn’t know what to do, except to keep waiting,” he said.
“We think that as we are all here, she knew and she would show up. We are all so anxious... We just wish and pray for her to come back here to us.”
‘No hope’
Hospital staff carry the body of one of the victims of the tourist boat accident, at Bai Chay Hospital, in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam, on July 20.
PHOTO: REUTERS
At Halong city’s main funeral home, bodies wrapped in red cloth were being carried in on stretchers, as friends and relatives cried in front of more than a dozen coffins.
A 68-year-old man, who asked not to be named, rushed to the scene at 3am, only to discover that his relatives – a young family of four, including two boys – had died in the capsizing.
“We were all so shocked,” he told AFP tearfully. “This was a very sudden accident. They were just taking the kids out to the bay for summer holidays and it ended up terrible.”
The bodies of the mother and children had been recovered, but he was awaiting news of the father so they could be cremated together.
“We know there is no hope,” he said.
The friend of another victim, a firefighter who had taken the trip with colleagues, said they had known each other since university.
“He was still single. We brought his body back to (his home town) for burial early this morning,” the friend said.
He praised the rescue efforts and said provincial authorities had given families 25 million dong (S$1,230) for each victim.
‘Worst accident ever’
Relief personnel gathered around the capsized tourist boat during a search and rescue operation in the Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh province, on July 19.
PHOTO: AFP
By early July 20, the wreckage had been towed to the wharf and 10 people had been rescued and taken to a nearby hospital.
Security guard Nguyen Tuan Anh spent the night on the wharf where ambulances were waiting to carry the bodies away – a scene he described as “painful”.
“I don’t think I have experienced this scene before. This may be the worst accident ever in Halong Bay,” he told AFP, adding that it had been “unpredictable and also, I think, unpreparable”.
“The whirlwind came so sudden and so big. The wind blew off the framework of a big stage for a grand music show nearby,” Mr Anh said.
Halong Bay is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, with millions of people visiting its blue-green waters and rainforest-topped limestone islands each year.
Several hundred rescuers including professional divers, soldiers and firefighters joined the search for survivors through the night and heavy rain, state media said.
“The whirlwind came just so sudden,” a rescue worker, who asked not to be named, told AFP on July 19. “As the boat turned upside down, several people were stuck inside the cabin. Me and other rescuers pulled up two bodies and rescued one,” he said.
“The accident was so devastating.” AFP
