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Quang TriMr. Dang Van Nghi thought of the worst possibility after three days of clinging to the cabin of the ship hungry, listening to the delirium of his colleagues with fever.
On the afternoon of October 11, 7 crew members of the Vietship 01 ship and a fisherman were stranded at sea, being actively cared for at the Department of Tropical Diseases of the General Hospital of Quang Tri Province. 8 people lay in 2 patient rooms, most fell asleep after more than 3 days and nights and did not dare to sleep, struggling with the waves.
After falling asleep due to the concussion, the wet person, crew member Dang Van Nghi (33 years old, resident of Hau Loc, Thanh Hoa) reported that the Vietship 01 did not operate by itself but had a tugboat. Typically the boat is anchored to piles that sink deep into the river bed to keep it safe. In the last few days, the project in Quang Tri was completed, the anchor was raised to prepare the Vietship 01 to go to another project, the flood came.
Around 3:00 pm on October 8, Vietship 01 was washed away by floods into the Cua Viet estuary, Gio Linh district, about 400 meters from the anchorage site. At 9:00 am on October 8, the ship veered south of the estuary and gradually sank. “When the boat was adrift, I called to notify my family, but when the boat sank, it was too fast, I couldn’t say anything,” Mr. Nghi said. All sitting on the roof of the hut, wearing life jackets, ready to await rescue from the shore.
For 3 consecutive days and nights, the crew members have no food or water. Mr. Nghi drank from the rain and struggled to warn his brothers and sisters not to drink sea water because it could cause dehydration and he could not stand for a long time. However, the 4-5 meter high waves were hit from above and hit people hard, so more or less everyone was drinking sea water.
An old member of the crew, exhausted, in a coma, kept saying “You will bring me a glass of ginger juice” as if he were on shore. Another had a broken rib, another had a leg injury. Witnessing the unsuccessful rescue work, the brothers comforted each other in trying to believe that the weather would be more favorable tomorrow.
The roof of the cabin where the crew passes is surrounded by knee-deep steel plates, the waves are constantly flooding, so the area is always flooded, people like the fish swimming in the pool. Every time the waves bounce, the crew member gets up, if he is not sure, he falls into the sea. Without saying it, the Nghi brothers thought of the worst possibility.
10/10 in the afternoon, helicopters appeared, brothers as “alive again.” However, due to the dark weather and high winds, the helicopter simply dropped the milky way and the rope onto the ship and flew ashore. Waiting forever and never seeing the helicopter again, everyone’s morale sank. They automatically encouraged each other to fly back for rescue supplies and return soon.
While waiting to land, the crew only wanted to swim, but the 4-5 m high waves seemed to sink them. “The wind and waves are very terrible, it is impossible to survive without waiting for the ship to come to rescue you. Also, the swirling water is very unpredictable,” said Nghi.
On the morning of October 11, the helicopter returned, the rescuers were dropped off, the crew members again showed hope. “However, until I lie down here, I can believe that I have been saved,” Nghi said.
After a few hours of heating, taking care of his health, eating a plate full of hospital oats, fisherman Tran Xuan Cuong (27 years old, resident of Gio Viet commune, Gio Linh district) said that he had partially regained consciousness, though he was still dizzy, head dizzy.
Cuong’s fishing boat came to the rescue at 10:40 a.m. on November 10, but sank. Mr. Cuong swam and sat on a large iron mound in the middle of the train, about 10 meters from the cabin, then he got stuck. During the afternoon, Mr. Cuong stood up and awaited rescue, but the efforts of a fishing boat and a rubber boat were unsuccessful.
In the late afternoon of November 10, seeing Mr. Cuong hanging from a lonely post, crew member Nguyen Huu Tu (33 years old, resident of Huong Khe, Ha Tinh), who was still healthy, swam up to the iron mound with Mr. Cuong. Both are accompanied to swim by the bow. There was a flat area, but close to sea level, the swell was fierce, so they both chose to climb the iron in front to make it easier to hit.
At the same time, two people crossed the prow swimming, another member of the crew jumped into the sea and swam. However, he was able to swim in the middle of the waves when he was swept away by the waves, being sought out by the Quang Tri border.
All night, Mr. Cuong and Tu did not dare to sleep, their hands clung to the iron railing to stand in front of the fierce waves, their eyes on the shore waiting for a morning sky. “On the shore, I think normally when I go out here I know I will fall into poverty, my morale drops very quickly,” Mr. Cuong said. Thanks to the experience of going to the beach, many times having accidents and helping others, Mr. Cuong became confident again. When thirsty, this fisherman squeezes rainwater onto his shirt to drink, biting his teeth to resist the cold wind all night.
Unable to withstand more waves, the Tu crew members wanted to swim to dry land, but Mr. Cuong discouraged them because swimming at night, without someone to detect support, would be very dangerous. During the night, the two people collected 2 buoys given by the lifeboats, with the idea of preventing themselves and helping the cabin crew in case of accidental fall by the waves. The two men in the bow and the cabin crew spoke from time to time, but sometimes they couldn’t.
At 7:45 this morning, seeing the waves soften, Mr. Cuong thought that if he didn’t swim to shore, there would be another chance. While the rescue was taking place, Cuong and his crew member Tu jumped into the water, holding the buoy, and ran for shore. A few minutes later, the helicopter appeared, but the two were unable to return to the freight train.
“I tried to swim but the waves kept dropping me, I struggled to find it again. Life and death were imminent, but I thought I had to try to get back to my family,” Cuong said.
An hour and a half later, with the support of three naval commandos, Cuong was the last to be brought ashore, ending the 3-day rescue.
Sitting on the hospital bed, fisherman Cuong explained the rescue: “We can do everything we can, but if we calculate the danger, the crew will die.”
Dr. Ngo Chien, Head of the Department of Tropical Diseases, said that the victims are at risk of cold pneumonia, 3 of them have fever, but all are stable. “We treat patients to improve their physical condition, strengthen their endurance, rehydrate electrolytes, and prevent pneumonia in patients,” said Dr. Chien.
On the morning of October 11, helicopters and naval commandos successfully rescued 8 people aboard Vietship 01, which sank and ran aground off the coast of Trieu An commune, Trieu Phong district. The ship has 12 people, in addition to the 7 crew members rescued today, another 4 swam ashore alone, one is missing.