Agencies in Vietnam are on the search for the cargo ship that crashed into and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat in Vietnamese waters before quickly leaving the scene.

Colonel Luong Ngoc Chinh, captain of the border guards in the south-central province of Binh Dinh, said on Sunday that the cargo ship responsible for the hit and run, which sank fishing boat BD 95207-TS operating near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago on Saturday afternoon, has yet to be identified.

After the incident was reported, the national committee for search and rescue assigned staff to investigate and look for the vessel, whose code and origin are unknown.

Fishing boat BD 95207-TS, which carried eight Vietnamese fishermen, was rammed by the ship at around 2:00 pm on Saturday when they were operating in a sea area 60 nautical miles from Linh Con Island, part of Hoang Sa, Pham Tiet, the captain of the boat, said.

“The hit caused serious damage to the boat, leading to water quickly pouring into the deck. I could only manage to send a distress signal from the radar,” Captain Tiet recounted.

The fishermen could not accurately identify the cargo ship as it quickly left the scene after the incident. They assumed that the vessel be of foreign origin.

After receiving the signal, Vietnamese authorities issued the notice to Vietnamese ships near the area to offer their help to the fishermen, as well as asked Chinese authorities to provide assistance on the search and rescue mission.

At 5:30 pm the same day, the fishing boat of Captain Nguyen Minh Thi arrived at the scene to save the eight fishermen, according to Captain Tiet.

Earlier this month, a Chinese vessel was held responsible for ramming and sinking a Vietnamese boat when it was fishing some 70 nautical miles (130km) off Con Co Island, administered by the central province of Quang Tri on January 1.

In this instance, Chinese authorities were asked by their Vietnamese counterparts to clarify the case. 

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