Ha Long Bay tourist boats banned from departing as typhoon Wipha nears

The Inland Waterway Port Authority and Waterway Vehicle Registry, under the Quang Ninh Department of Construction, issued a directive on Sunday, effective immediately, halting the issuance of permits for these vessels to ensure the safety of passengers, crew, and ships amid potentially hazardous weather conditions.

Boats returning to the mainland to disembark passengers are still allowed to operate.

Authorities have urged relevant agencies to monitor weather developments closely via official meteorological and hydrological forecasts.

Port officials have also been instructed to promptly notify shipowners, port operators, and captains so they can take proactive safety measures.

The directive emphasized the importance of not underestimating the typhoon's potential impact.

In anticipation of the powerful storm, many tourist boats in the bay have already activated their storm preparedness plans.

A representative of a five-star cruise service in Ha Long said the company began notifying guests at noon on Saturday about bookings from July 20 to 22, advising them to adjust their travel plans or request a refund of their booking deposits.

The directive was issued shortly after a tragic accident occurred in the bay at around 2:00 pm, when a rainstorm with violent gusts capsized a tourist boat carrying 49 people, resulting in 35 deaths and leaving four others missing as of Sunday afternoon.

However, the rainstorm that caused the deadly boat accident—along with others that struck northern provinces that afternoon—was not associated with Wipha's circulation, according to meetorologists.

Instead, these thunderstorms were triggered by a tropical convergence zone passing through the region, intensified by prolonged high temperatures over the previous three days.

As of 1:00 pm on Sunday, Wipha was located in the northern East Vietnam Sea, about 630 kilometers east of the Quang Ninh–Hai Phong coast, with sustained winds of up to 133 kph and gusts reaching 183 kph, according to the national weather forecast center.

The storm is moving westward at a speed of 20–25 kph and is forecast to enter the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, before heading west-southwest toward northern Vietnam.