They were fishing 90 nautical miles off Nha Trang beach when the engine of their fishing boat numbered QNa 90019 TS had a technical problem and stopped operating.
The captain and owner of the boat -- Pham Be, 43 -- called his friend on another boat which was also fishing in the area for help but it was impossible to drag the 28m-long and 7m-wide boat ashore.
Be then called the rescue center which sent 17 salvage members but it took hours to locate the ship as its positioning system also went out of order.
After the successful rescue, Be choked with emotion, “All of my 47 crewmen and my boat worth 3.2 billion dong (US$154,000) are finally safe”.
“I had to borrow money and spend all savings from my ten-year fishing career to build this boat. It only made its first fishing trip last month. I planned this trip to last for three months in our fishing grounds in Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos”, he added.
Nguyen Anh Vu, director of Vietnam Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and leader of the rescue squad, proudly informed that “this is the first time the salvage crew of Vietnam MRCC saved so many people.”