According to Maritime Administration of Hochiminh City, the cause leading to the ship sank is engine malfunction.
About 23.45 p.m 19 Oct 2019, when the vessel Vietsun Integrity (Nationality: Vietnam, vessel owner: Vietnam-Japan Joint Stock Company, number: XVPI9, deadweight tonnage: 8,000 tones) travelled from VICT port (Hochiminh City) carried 17 crew members and 285 containers to Hai Phong. When the vessel was on the way to float area 32 route Saigon- Vung Tau, ship navigator notified to VTS that the ship got engine malfunction causing to list and 25 degrees leaning, one container fell from the right board.
Pic: The related parties coordinating in rescue works
About 12 a.m, navigator notified to VTS center the vessel continued to list, the crew lost control, rotated horizontally to navigation channel. About 2 a.m, the navigator notified that the ship sank on the stream of float area 28 (upstream of An Thanh).
Immediately, Maritime Administration of Hochiminh City mobilized human resources and vehicles to the scene, coordinate handling and respond to the oil spills if any. For safety guarantee, the authority limited the number of traffic ships from confluence of Dong Tranh- Long Tau to the crossroads of Bon Mat river. Maritime Administration of Hochiminh City also recommended the ships sailing from Hochiminh- Vung Tau follow the maritime route of Soai Rap, maritime route of Dong Tranh- Go Gia or maritime Dua River.
By the afternoon of 19 October 2019, all 17 crew members were safely rescued, the containers floating in the river were positioned, oil spill has not detected yet. The forces involved in the progress mobilized the vehicles to the scene for container salvage and made plan for ship salvage.
Until the evening of 21 October 2019, answering the press agency, Mr. Nguyen Hai Nam- director of Maritime Administration of Hochiminh City said, the troubleshooting was actively implemented.
According to news from Cong an online, the oil handling company has collected 30m3 of oil and water, lying in buoys rounded the ship sank area. With the initial information provided by the cargo owner, the goods in the container were frozen seafood, building materials, rice, bran…. no dangerous chemicals.
By 21 October 2019, the authorities has hoisted 18 containers to barges and collected, positioned 27 containers on the river. Meanwhile, containers in VietSun Integrity still had to wait for barge with bigger cranes for processing.
Pic:Containers drifting ashore are fixed and anchored
Major Trinh Hoang Hung - Deputy Commander of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Coast Guard said that the salvage of containers faced many difficulties, as there were containers drifting out to Thieng Lieng Island, 8 knots (about 11 kms) far away from the position of the ship sank.
According to Major Hung, the cargo owners provided the information about items inside the containers for Maritime Administration. Knowing about origin of goods inside containers would help authorities the container salvage faster and more effectively.