Rescued fishermen return home

The crew had been on a fishing expedition since May and had accrued nearly ten tonnes of seafood after 20 days. Upon their return, however, a sudden storm hit on June 14. "The boat just sank so fast, the only thing we were able to do was hold on to plastic drums and jump off. Since it was daytime, I had already sent out an SOS call," the captain said.

A nearby boat arrived and tried to help tow the boat back, but the weather's damage made this impossible. One sailor said, "We were only able to save essential fishing equipment. We lost over VND1 billion (USD47,600) and 10 tonnes of product. In order to save us, our friends must have incurred losses of VND100 million."

 Captain Vo Van Luu

Vo Van Luu, captain of ship that came to aid, said he had been attacked and robbed multiple times by Chinese vessels near Hoang Sa Island. In March, 35 Chinese sailors forcibly boarded his ship and assaulted the crew. "They took our payload and our equipment. Then they continued to ram our boat. But we refuse to be afraid to continue our expeditions in our own waters and help our friends when they need it," he said.