Rescuers in the central city of Danang late Wednesday found 10 crew of a fishing boat that went missing while seeking shelter from typhoon Mindulle two days ago.
Seven of the 10 fishermen, who drifted on the sea for around 50 hours, were brought home the same day. The rest are being treated on Cu Lao Cham (Cham Islands) in the neighboring province of Quang Nam.
Duong De Dung, chief of Danang Border Police Department, said professional rescue forces had searched for the missing fishermen in two days, but to no avail.
“Everything seemed hopeless,” Dung said. “Many families ashore set up the altars for praying.”
But the crew members of a fishing boat owned by a resident in Danang on Wednesday found a floating body when they were on their searching mission.
When the boat approached the man, they found a total seven men drifting on the waters in critical conditions.
Another fishing boat found other three fishermen floating in a shattered bamboo basket.
The exhausted, thirsty and trembling fishermen said they were saved by life jackets as the storm broke their ship.
The national floods and storms control committee says tropical storm Mindulle also killed nine and injured 58 others when it slammed the north-central coast on Tuesday.
The committee says the storm sank 35 boats and damaged around 32,000 houses.
The third tropical storm of the year made landfall Tuesday afternoon in Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces.
A disaster official of Nghe An said strong winds knocked down many trees and blew off roofs of houses in the city of Vinh, the capital of the province. An estimated 74,000 people live in the high-risk coastal areas evacuated before the storm, he said.
In Ha Tinh province, south of Nghe An, officials said more than 14,000 people from coastal villages had been evacuated.
Floods have submerged 24,960 hectares of rice fields in the provinces.
Landslides have caused hours of traffic congestion in Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue.
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cao Duc Phat has issued instructions that require local officials to continue searching for the missing; support the families victims and help their communities deal with the storm's consequences.
They must quickly resolve electricity, communications and transport difficulties and continue to monitor the storm's progress.
Mindulle has weakened into a tropical low that is forecast to continue generating rains in central provinces from Nghe An to Thanh Hoa and the northern delta.
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