A corner of Con Dao Island
Authorities in Con Dao announced on Friday that they were investigating the suspected food poisoning case on the Chinese-registered Wu Zhou 8 cargo ship.
Initial investigation showed that the ship was on its way from Thailand to China when the 21 crew members showed health problems. 10 of them had died on the ship while 11 others were in critical condition.
After being informed of the incident, Con Dao authorities had sent a rescue team to the site and brought 11 sailors to a local healthcare centre by helicopter at 2.30 pm the same day. Two died on the way, while nine others are being treated.
Although the cause of their deaths was yet to be confirmed, it is suspected that the crew members suffered food poisoning.
The ship is now anchored 63 nautical miles from Con Dao island.
