AFP — Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday (26) that rescue teams are still searching for 17 missing people after a Vietnamese cargo vessel carrying 62 people sank amid severe weather in the disputed South China Sea.
Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said Vietnamese officials had reached the scene after the Khoi Nguyen 18 sank while operating in rough weather in the East Sea.
Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea, despite an international ruling that Beijing's claims have no legal basis.
Vietnam, along with the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan, all assert overlapping claims in this strategic waterway, including over the Spratly Islands, which are believed to hold vast oil and gas resources.
Pham Thu Hang said that Vietnamese rescue teams, with support from Chinese rescue units including ships and helicopters, as well as other vessels in the area, had rescued 45 of the 62 people on board as of noon on Sunday.
Hang added that officials and fishing vessels were actively searching for the remaining missing persons.
China's state television broadcaster CCTV reported that the Khoi Nguyen 18 ran into trouble near Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands.
The reef is under Beijing's control, but both Hanoi and Manila also claim the area.
China's Xinhua News Agency reported that a Chinese rescue vessel was the first to detect what was believed to be a distress signal from the stricken Vietnamese ship on Saturday evening.
Six Chinese ships and one rescue helicopter, along with one Vietnamese vessel, are conducting search and rescue operations in the area.
The cargo ship Khoi Nguyen 18, registered in Vietnam, is nearly 70 metres in length, according to data from the Marine Traffic website.
In addition, Vietnamese state media reported that another Vietnamese fishing vessel sank amid rough seas in the Spratly Islands area on Friday; 33 fishermen were rescued and three remain missing.
The Tuoi Tre news website reported that the fishing vessel encountered strong winds, took on water, and sank on Friday morning. Other fishing boats in the vicinity rallied to assist, and at around 9:00 p.m. the same day, 33 fishermen were rescued approximately 15 nautical miles west of where the vessel went down.
The survivors were taken to West Reef, a Vietnamese-controlled reef in the Spratly Islands, for medical treatment, and all are in stable condition.
Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows that more than 25% of all global trade passed through this critical South China Sea waterway in 2024.
The islands and reefs in these waters are coveted by China and the Southeast Asian countries situated around this strategic sea.
Beijing has expanded the reefs it controls in the Spratly Islands and has established air bases, naval facilities, and other structures, including runways capable of accommodating military aircraft, while Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia have asserted their own claims by stationing forces in the Spratly Islands and constructing runways since the 1970s.
