VietNamNet Bridge – Shipping wood from Myanmar to India, the 6,500-ton cargo ship named Saigon Queen met an accident in the waters of Sri Lanka and then lost contact. After more than 10 hours of searching, 18 crew members were rescued; four people are still missing, including the captain.

At 12.15am on October 30, the Vietnam Centre for Coordination on Maritime Search and Rescue (Vietnam MRCC) received information that the Saigon Queen vessel (length: 102 m, width: 17 m) of the Saigon Shipping JSC, with 22 sailors, shipping timber from Myanmar to India, reported emergency accident in Sri Lanka.

Vietnam MRCC tried to contact with the ship but its effort failed because the vessel was operating in the area of bad weather, affected by storm Nilam.

The agency released maritime emergency notification and coordinated with the search and rescue forces of Sri Lanka, the U.S. Coast Guard and the vessels that were operating in the area to rescue the crew of Saigon Queen.

At 9.20pm on October 30, the Pacific Skipper ship (Greek flag) rescued three crew members and kept contact with 16 other sailors who were on a life-raft; but three crew members were still missing. Due to very bad weather and it got dark, the rescue was difficult.




At 10.40pm of the same day, the Pacific Skipper saved the sailors on the life raft who were in good condition; only one crew member was slightly injured. However, in the process of taking the sailors on board, captain Nguyen Minh Luan fell into the sea and he is still missing now.

The Pacific Skipper with 18 sailors of the Saigon Queen is traveling to Bangladesh. The ship is scheduled to dock at the Mongna Port of Bangladesh on November 3.




This morning, October 31, Mr. Do Ngoc Lam, general director of the Saigon Shipping JSC and Vietnam MRCC told local newspapers that the Saigon Queen sank in the waters of Sri Lanka and these agencies are searching for the four missing people, including captain Nguyen Minh Luan (born in 1961), chief mechanic Hoang Van Ban (1954), crew chief Tran Van De (1958) and mechanic Pham Phu Huu (1985).

In 2005, the Saigon Queen was the first vessel of the Saigon Shipping JSC that was newly built with a total investment of VND118 billion (over $5 million). At that time, this was the largest first built in the South Vietnam. In October 2008, after 2.5 years being rented by a Danish firm, the vessel began to be used by the Saigon Shipping JSC.

M. Lan