32 fishermen saved from distressed fishing boat in Vietnam drink their own urine to survive

Local authorities in Gia Lai Province and Da Nang City, located in central Vietnam, held a ceremony on Monday to honor two captains of BD-98960 and BD-98848 vessels and crew members with certificates and rewards for risking their ships and livelihood to rescue the fishermen from the sunken QNa-90859.

When captain Nguyen Van Huu, 40, and the crew of fishing boat BD-98960 from Gia Lai arrived at the ceremony, the rescued fishermen and their relatives rushed to embrace and thank them, with many breaking down in tears.

Truong Thi Van, 47, wife of fisherman Nguyen Ninh, 48, thanked captain Huu while recalling the days when her husband was missing during the squid-fishing trip.

“When we were notified by the [QNa-90859] boat owner that the vessel had sunk and all the crew members were missing, I felt weak all over and could do nothing but pray,” Van said.

“By the third day, there was still no word from anyone, and we were beside ourselves with worry.

“I thought it was over and there was nothing more we could do.

“Thank you, captain Huu, for giving my husband and my family a second life!”

After Ninh returned home safely, she prepared an offering to give thanks for his survival.

Ninh was among the 32 survivors of the disaster involving QNa-90859, which was returning from a month-long squid-fishing trip when tragedy struck.

On August 25, a sudden squall capsized the boat within about 10 minutes.

Of the 51 people aboard, 46 managed to escape, while five were trapped inside and went down with the vessel.

“We swam around desperately, gathering plastic jerrycans, bamboo poles, ropes and bottles of drinking water and tying them together to make a large raft to cling to,” Ninh recalled.

“By the second day, we had run out of the little water we had brought with us, so we drank our own urine in the hope of staying alive.”

The makeshift raft initially carried all 46 survivors.

By the third day, however, 14 had become too exhausted to hold on and drifted away. No one had enough strength to save them.

The raft later broke into two sections, with survivors clinging to each part while several others drifted separately around them.

“By noon on the fourth day, we saw the Gia Lai fishing boat and finally believed that we had survived!” Ninh said.

Bui Gap, 48, another survivor, said those on the rafts had essentially resigned themselves to death by the fourth day.

“After four days immersed in cold water and going without food and water, everyone was exhausted and gradually losing consciousness,” Gap recalled.

“My fellow fishermen and I had prepared ourselves to face death.

“If the two rescue boats had come about three hours later, none of us would have survived.”

The survivors were barely conscious when they were brought aboard the rescue boats.

One fisherman, identified as Quynh, was in critical condition.

The rescuers gave him small amounts of water and later fed him rice porridge as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

“When we pulled Quynh aboard, he was barely alive,” said Ho Van Qua, 58, a crew member involved in the rescue.

“I thought he wouldn't make it. At one point, he stopped breathing, so we rushed to perform chest compressions and artificial respiration.

“Luckily, he survived!”

Boat captain follows clues to find survivors

Captain Huu said he learned of the accident on August 26 after the wife of the QNa-90859 boat owner contacted Huu’s wife to ask for help.

Based on the provided information, Huu realized his vessel was near the accident site.

On the night of August 27, his boat struck a red gas cylinder that had drifted from afar.

As an experienced fisherman, Huu suspected it was equipment from the sunken vessel and studied the direction of the current to determine where to search.

He pushed the vessel’s engine to maximum power in the rush to save the stranded fishermen.

On the morning of August 28, the boat's detection equipment picked up an unidentified floating object.

The crew headed about four nautical miles in that direction and found the first raft carrying nine fishermen.

After pulling them aboard, they followed information from the survivors and traveled a few hundred meters before finding a second raft with eight people.

By 11:00 am, they had rescued another 15 fishermen scattered across the sea, clinging to buoys and drifting in the water.

BD-98960 rescued 30 people, while BD-98848 rescued two.

19 fishermen remain missing

Hoang Chau Son, chairman of the Nui Thanh Commune administration in Da Nang, thanked the fishermen aboard the two Gia Lai boats for their rescue efforts.

Saving the 32 fishermen at sea also meant saving 32 families from being torn apart, Son said.

The official described the past days as the most difficult period for the local administration and residents.

Nineteen fishermen remain missing following the squid-fishing boat disaster.

Authorities are continuing the search, though hopes of finding them alive are slim.

Local authorities have also visited and offered support to families affected by the tragedy.