On July 27, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian hosted a regular press conference. A Reuters reporter asked whether Vietnam and China are still making efforts to find the remaining missing persons regarding the sunken Vietnamese cargo ship in the South China Sea. Additionally, given the location where this incident occurred, did it cause any tension between China and Vietnam?
Lin Jian stated that on July 25, the Chinese ship 'Nanhai Rescue 115' discovered and rescued 29 crew members of a Vietnamese ship in distress near the Nansha Islands. Subsequently, the Chinese side immediately dispatched multiple ships and helicopters to continue the search and rescue operations. As of now, the Chinese side has successfully rescued 47 Vietnamese crew members, treated the injured, and orderly transferred all the rescued crew members to the Vietnamese side. The Vietnamese side expressed gratitude for this.
According to Lin Jian, it is understood that a Vietnamese ship encountered difficulties and sank on the evening of the 24th. There were 62 crew members on board. Some crew members are still missing, and the search and rescue efforts are still underway.
Regarding your second question, the Chinese side launched a rescue operation immediately after the vessel encountered an accident in Yuefang. The Yuefang side expressed gratitude for this. Lin Jian said.
According to the WeChat official account “China Sansha”, at 18:53 on July 25th, the Sansha Maritime Search and Rescue Center received a report from the Hainan Provincial Maritime Search and Rescue Center. At 18:23 on July 25th, while returning to Sanya, the ship “Nanhai Jiuyi 115” discovered a life buoy about 38 nautical miles north of Yungshu Reef. There were several people in distress on the buoy. Upon interviewing those who were rescued, it was determined that the distressed vessel was the Vietnamese ship “KHOI NGUYEN18”. This ship went into distress and sank near 220 nautical miles east of Quang Nghia, Vietnam on July 24th at 23:00. There were a total of 62 Vietnamese crew members on board.
According to VNA news, on July 26 local time, Phan Thu Hằng, a spokesperson for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, answered reporters' questions regarding the search and rescue efforts after the ship KHOI NGUYEN 18 encountered difficulties at sea. She said, "After the accident, relevant Vietnamese departments immediately rushed to the scene and worked closely together to carry out the rescue operation. With the assistance of Chinese ships, helicopters, and other vessels near the incident area, the search and rescue efforts were carried out quickly. By noon on July 26, 45 people had been successfully rescued."
Fan Qiuhui said: 'The Vietnamese side thanks the Chinese relevant functional departments for providing timely search and rescue assistance. It is hoped that both sides will continue to maintain close cooperation in searching for the remaining missing persons.'
