Capsized boat survivors recount deadly Vietnam storm that killed 35 people: ‘what a tragedy’
Survivors of the Ha Long Bay shipwreck, which killed 35 people, described how a sudden thunderstorm overturned their tourist boat within seconds
“It had been raining for 15 minutes, then there was a thunderstorm … and a huge wave that all of a sudden capsized the boat,” said Nguyen Hong Quan, one of 10 survivors of the accident, which happened early on Saturday afternoon.
“It took only a few seconds,” he said on Monday, recalling one of the worst accidents in recent years to hit the Unesco-protected archipelago, which consists of thousands of limestone islands about 200km (125 miles) northeast of Hanoi.
Authorities were verifying on Monday whether a body found on an islet in the bay was one of the missing people from the accident, according to local media.
The thunderstorm hit large parts of northern Vietnam on Saturday, turning the sky dark in a matter of minutes, with sudden downpours and strong winds felling trees in the capital of Hanoi and temporarily disrupting air travel at the Noi Bai International Airport.
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At least 35 dead after boat capsizes in Vietnam's scenic Ha Long Bay
Quan, a 40-year-old tourist, said he drifted for about three hours on a wooden chair from the sunken boat before a fishing vessel finally rescued him.