Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee Vice Chairman Ho Quang Buu announced on Wednesday morning that rescue teams found two fishermen from the sunken boats on Tuesday afternoon. Despite being given first-aid, their health had deteriorated due to prolonged exposure at sea, and they both died.
"We're trying to look for 13 others that remain missing," the official said. "Some foreign boats and helicopters have just joined the search."
According to reports from the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, two fishing boats sank due to bad weather off the Spratly Islands on Monday and Tuesday morning. In total, 78 fishermen were safely rescued by passing vessels, and 15 others were missing.
On Tuesday afternoon, PM Pham Minh Chinh issued a directive to instruct the National Committee for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, ministers, and chairpersons of the people's committees of the localities in the central region to focus on the search and rescue tasks.
The Ministry of Defence was requested to coordinate closely with relevant units and forces to maximise resources and promptly implement search and rescue measures for the missing fishermen.
The central region is still facing bad weather. On Tuesday morning, the low pressure to the southwest of the Paracel Islands strengthened into a tropical depression.
The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said that the area from Quang Tri Province to Quang Nam Province would see severe heavy rain with accumulation of 100-250mm, in some places over 350mm, until Thursday.