Marine

6.3, capsizing, fatalities

Vietnam: Vietnamese rescue workers struggled to locate 13 missing sailors and stave off a potential major oil slick after Tanker Duc Tri overturned in the South China Sea. Rescue workers believed that the 13 crew were trapped inside the vessel when it suddenly capsized. One survivor and the bodies of five crew have since been recovered. The sole survivor, a 50-year-old rescued after two days at sea by a passing fishing boat, said another sailor had become exhausted and drowned. Ship-owners Duc Tri Limited Company said the 1,700-ton vessel capsized in rough seas on March 2, about seven nautical miles off the resort town of Mui Ne, two days earlier than initially reported. The vessel’s 10 tanks which were carrying 1,700 tonnes of crude oil remained intact, but fuel had spilled from the engine system, which emergency workers were trying to contain with a floating 500-metre-long barrier. Subsequently, thousands of Vietnamese troops helped clean oil off southern beaches as rescue workers sought to contain a spill from the capsized tanker Duc Tri and recover the bodies of nine more seamen. While authorities said the vessel’s 10 oil tanks were believed to be intact, oil had seeped from the vessel’s engine system and blackened beaches along the southern coast, with rough seas hampering recovery and salvage operations.