At least 35 people died after a tourist boat capsized in Vietnam as rescue workers raced to find survivors ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Wipha.
The vessel with an estimated 49 people on board capsized in a sudden thunderstorm during a tour of Ha Long Bay on Saturday evening, in one of the worst accidents in the popular tourist area in recent years.
Initially, officials feared at least 38 had died in the tragedy, but this was later revised down to 35. Ten were rescued and crews are scrambling to trace four missing people.
However rescue efforts have been hampered by limited visibility hours before the typhoon, which now approaching Hong Kong, reaches land.
The Wonder Sea embarked early Saturday afternoon for a three hour excursion in Ha Long Bay, a popular tourist destination, carrying 46 passengers and three crew.
But a storm quickly drew in, bringing high winds and pouring rain, survivor Dang Anh Tuan told The Associated Press.
Tuan said the passengers asked for the boat to turn back to shore, but the crew reassured them they were almost at their destination.
"It rained for about 15 minutes, and then the boat started to shake vigorously, tables and chairs were jostled around and seconds later the boat overturned," the 36-year-old fire extinguisher salesman said.
"Water gushed in and I lost all orientation. I tried to breathe. But more water came in. I took a deep breath, got rid of my life vest and dove down. I saw a streak of light and followed it to swim out, escaping the boat, and then I climbed on the overturned boat to look for help.”
Tuan and several other people survived by clinging on to the capsized boat and its propellers, waiting another two hours before the rain stopped and rescuers arrived.
Miraculously, he escaped with only minor cuts. However nine of his group of 11 friends from university, who were on holiday together, were killed, including one who was travelling with his wife and three-year-old son.
Most of the passengers, including about 20 children, were tourists from the Southeast Asian country’s capital city, Hanoi, local media reported.
A 14-year-old boy was among the survivors. He was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull.
“I took a deep breath, dived, then swam up. I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat,” the boy, who had been travelling with his parents, told VietnamNet.
Grieving Tran Trung Tu, 39, whose 32-year-old brother was on board, said: "My brother can swim, but I was told everything happened too fast.”
The sudden thunderstorm turned the sky dark in a matter of minutes, felling trees in the capital of Hanoi, where officials at the Noi Bai international airport said nine flights were diverted and three departures temporarily halted.
Nearly 300 rescuers, including border guards, navy personnel, police, and professional divers, were deployed to the scene. Although the sea had calmed by the time rescuers arrived, weather conditions limited visibility, making their work difficult.
The rescuers managed to retrieve the sunken boat, the government said.
A witness told AFP news agency that the sky darkened at around 2pm local time on Saturday and there were “hailstones as big as toes with torrential rain, thunderstorm and lightning”.
"I was told life vests were available, but it was too sudden," said Do Van Hai, 42, a Halong resident. "Hopefully, the missing ones will be found soon."
The government ordered a thorough review of all maritime safety procedures and asked officials to ensure the highest level of safety for vessels operating in the area.
Halong Bay, about 200km northeast of Hanoi, attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year. In 2011, the sinking of a tour boat in Halong Bay killed 12 people, including foreign tourists.
Last week, at least 10 people went missing after a boat capsized during bad weather off the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province. The other eight people on board were rescued after the vessel sank at around 11am local time on Monday, the national search and rescue agency said.
The doomed vessel had left Sikakap, a small town in the Mentawai Islands, for the town of Tuapejat. At least 10 government officials were among the 18 people on board, according to local reports.
