Ha Long Bay deaths: Investigation underway as victims’ families seek answers

HALONG BAY, July 20 — Relatives anxiously sat beside ambulances on the wharf of one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist sites on Sunday, waiting for news of loved ones who were on a tourist boat that capsized killing dozens.

Fruits and flowers were laid on the coast for the at least 37 killed in the wreckage on Saturday in what some called Ha Long Bay’s worst-ever disaster.

As rescuers worked into Sunday morning to salvage the sunken boat, a handful of people were still missing.

The tourist vessel called “Wonder Sea” had been carrying 53 people, including more than 20 children, around the Unesco World Heritage Site, according to state media.

Hoang Quang rushed from Hanoi to Quang Ninh province at 2:00 am on Sunday for news of his cousin and her family who were on the boat when it capsized.

The couple – a housewife and fruit seller married to a bus driver – had “tried their best” to afford the trip around the world-famous bay.

“They found the body of (the husband), not my cousin yet,” Hoang told AFP.

He was “so shocked” when he heard news of the incident and immediately went to the wharf with other worried family members.

“Suddenly the victims were my relatives – anyone would be scared. We didn’t know what to do, except to keep waiting,” he said.

“We think that as we are all here, she knew and she would show up. We are all so anxious… We just wish and pray for her to come back here to us.”

‘No hope’

At Ha Long city’s main funeral home, AFP journalists saw bodies wrapped in red cloth being carried in on stretchers, as friends and relatives cried in front of more than a dozen coffins.

A 68-year-old man, who asked not to be named, rushed to the scene at 3:00 am, only to discover that his relatives – a young family of four, including two boys – had died in the capsizing.

“We were all so shocked,” he told AFP tearfully. “This was a very sudden accident. They were just taking the kids out to the bay for summer holidays and it ended up terrible.”

The bodies of the mother and children had been recovered, but he was awaiting news of the father to be able to cremate them together.

“We know there is no hope,” he said.

The friend of another victim, a firefighter who had taken the trip with colleagues, said they had known each other since university.

“He was still single. We brought his body back to (his hometown) for burial early this morning,” the friend said.

He praised the rescue efforts and said provincial authorities had given families 25 million dong (RM4,000) for each victim.

‘Worst accident ever’

By early Sunday, the wreckage had been towed into the wharf and 11 people had been taken to a nearby hospital, where one more died later in the day.

Security guard Nguyen Tuan Anh spent the night on the wharf where ambulances were waiting to carry the bodies away – a scene he described as “painful”.

“I don’t think I have experienced this scene before. This maybe the worst accident ever in Ha Long Bay,” he told AFP, adding it had been “unpredictable and also I think unpreparable.”

“The whirlwind came so sudden and so big. The wind blew off the framework of a big stage for a grand music show nearby,” he said.

Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, with millions of people visiting its blue-green waters and rainforest-topped limestone islands each year.

Several hundred rescuers including professional divers, soldiers, and firefighters joined the search for survivors through the night and heavy rain, state media said.

“The whirlwind came just so sudden,” a rescue worker, who asked not to be named, told AFP on Saturday.

“As the boat turned upside down, several people were stuck inside the cabin. Me and other rescuers pulled up two bodies and rescued one,” he said.

“The accident was so devastating.” — AFP