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| Sunday, 2 May 2004 |
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At least 25 dead, scores missing after boat sinks off Vietnam At least 25 people were killed and scores more were missing and feared dead after a boat carrying Vietnamese tourists sank off the coast of southern Vietnam, officials said Saturday. The accident happened on Friday after the pump system broke down on the fishing boat that its owner was illegally using to ferry visitors from Ca Mau province to an island 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the mainland. "Police, navy and army personnel were sent to the scene and are still there searching for survivors," said Nguyen Duy Phien, chairman of the Ngoc Hien district People's Committee. "Until now we have recovered 25 bodies and rescued 94 people but we do not have an accurate picture of how many are still missing," he told AFP, adding that at least one third of those who drowned were children.Officials said they doubted whether any more survivors would be found. State media said the boat was carrying nearly 200 people, including high school students and families celebrating the 29th anniversary of the fall of the US-backed South Vietnamese regime and the May Day long weekend. Police in the coastal Ngoc Hien district, which is around 340 kilometres (210 miles) southwest of the southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City, said they had arrested the married couple who owned the vessel. "They survived the accident and then turned themselves into police. We are detaining them while we carry out an investigation," a police spokesman told AFP. The husband, Tran Van Khai, a fisherman in Vien An Tay commune, who over the past year had abandoned his trade in favour of transporting salt water to shrimp farms in Ca Mau, the hub of Vietnam's shrimp industry. At the same time, he also occasionally ferried people from there to Hon Khoai island, a popular tourist spot, police said. A policeman from his commune said a dozen boats were continuing their search for any survivors of the accident, which took place five kilometres (three miles) from the island. "Of those that we have rescued so far around a dozen were hospitalised but they have since been discharged and local hospitals are on alert to receive more victims," he told AFP. The policeman said he believed around 200 people were on board the boat. Fatal boat accidents and drownings occur regularly in communist-ruled Vietnam. Despite having 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles) of coastline, many Vietnamese never learn to swim. AFP |
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