Vietnamese Cargo Ship Sinks in South China Sea; 23 Missing
A Vietnamese cargo ship sank in the busy waters of the South China Sea, resulting in 23 people missing as search operations continue.
Chinese state media CCTV reported that the incident occurred on Sunday, with 39 crew members rescued so far.
Officials from Hainan Province in southern China announced that the cargo ship ‘Khôi Nguyen 18,’ carrying 62 Vietnamese nationals, encountered an accident near the Fiery Cross Reef.
According to CCTV, a Chinese rescue vessel named ‘Nanhai Jiu 115’ first detected signs of the accident on Saturday evening after spotting an orange flame from the ship.
The search and rescue operation involves six Chinese ships, one rescue helicopter, and one Vietnamese vessel. Registered in Vietnam, the ship measured approximately 70 meters in length and had a gross weight of 999 tons.
