2017 saw an increasing number of maritime incidents involving fishing and cargo ships in Vietnamese waters, with Gulf of Thailand and Southern sea reporting a more than three times increase in search and rescue calls compared to 2016, according to the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre.
Namely, throughout 2017, the agency received 183 distress signals, and deployed rescue ships 37 times in search and rescue a total of 537 people. However, 96 seafarers died or are still missing, Vietnam news reported.
The causes of this vulnerability in maritime incidents vary from weather conditions -16 typhoons and many tropical low-pressure systems- to the poor quality of fishing vessels that cannot respond to heavy weather, due to outdated machinery and improper maintenance, the deputy director of the SAR centre was quoted as saying. He explained specifically that, of the 49 vessels that sank in the southern sea last year, 46 were fishing boats.
The problem was also extended under the government’s plan to develop offshore fishing, which resulted to small conventional vessels exposing to high seas. Low safety awareness combined with lack of procedural compliance and negligence is another contributing cause, the agency added.
To ensure maritime safety in Vietnam, maritime experts suggest tightening control over the number and quality of vessels and crewmembers, while authorities also need to reinforce management over shipping lanes, and increase warnings on unsafety risks.
