Vietnam: Boat filled with tourists drowned in Halong Bay, 34 bodies found, dozens of people missing

A big news is coming out from Vietnam. At least 34 people were killed and more than a dozen people are missing after a tourist loaded boat overturned on Saturday in Halong Bay. The accident happened due to bad weather. According to government media, a total of 53 people were aboard the boat. The boat overturned at around 2 pm (local time) when the storm ‘Vifa’ was moving from South China Sea towards Vietnam. During this time there were reports of strong winds, heavy rains and lightning in the area.

Search for missing people

Local news website VNXPress reported that most of the passengers were from the capital Hanoi. Relief and rescue teams are still searching for the survivors. The nationality of tourists has not yet been officially confirmed. Vietnam’s official news agency quoted local authorities as saying that the rescue teams had so far saved 11 people alive and the bodies of 34 people have been found. 8 children are also among those who died.

Accident occurred due to bad weather
Halong Bay, which is located about 200 km north-east from the capital Hanoi, attracts a large number of tourists every year. The boat walk is very popular here. This year the third storm in the South China Sea is ‘Vifa’, which may hit the northern coast of Vietnam early next week. The weather deteriorated due to the storm, which also affected air travel. Noi Bai Airport said 9 upcoming flights on Saturday had to be sent to other airports and the departure of 3 flights was temporarily stopped.

PM Fam Minh Chinh expressed condolences
Prime Minister Fam Minh Chinh expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. He requested the Ministries of Defense and Public Safety to conduct immediate search and rescue operations.

Latest World News