VietNamNet Bridge – Ten foreign passengers are missing after a Vietnamese tourist ship sank this morning off Ti Top Island in Ha Long Bay.

The foreigners are from Russia, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, France, Switzerland and Sweden.

Nine foreign and two Vietnamese passengers have already been saved by local search and rescue teams.

Initial findings are pointing to a leak in the engine room as the cause of the accident.

The QN 5198 ship named Truong Hai left Bai Chay Port yesterday afternoon, Feb 16, carrying tourists who were visiting the bay.

Local search and rescue teams are continuing their search for the missing.

*Vinashin leaders prosecuted

The People's Supreme Procuracy has approved the Ministry of Public Security's decision to start legal procedures against two leaders of the near-bankrupt national shipbuilder Vinashin, who allegedly violated State regulations regarding economic management.

The two leaders are Ho Ngoc Tung, 53, former member of Vinashin's Board of Management and Finance General Director and Trinh Thi Hau, 47, former director of the Vinashin Finance Corporation (VFC) - a subsidiary of the group.

After searching her house located on Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Tay Ho District's Buoi Ward, police took Hau into custody. Tung is currently overseas, receiving treatment for an illness, and police are awaiting his return.

The VFC was established in December, 1998 and is tasked with arranging capital for investment projects, issuing international and local bonds and supplying financial services for the group and its subsidiaries. Hau was appointed VFC director in January last year.

Initial investigations revealed that after taking the positions of VFC director and VFC deputy director respectively, Tung and Hau illegally approved loans worth VND60 billion (US$2.8 million), that had been allocated from an international Government bond issuance.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News