Vice chairman of Binh Dinh People’s Committee Tran Chau instructed local police to conduct the investigation.
According to Petrolimex Insurance Company - Binh Dinh Branch (PJICO Binh Đinh), so far this year, nine local fishing boats which are the firm’s customers capsized, including seven in July alone, causing losses of VND40 billion (USD1.73 million).
Fishing boats in Binh Dinh
Among those, four were built under Government Decree 67 which allowed fishermen to get loans from commercial banks to build steel and new-material ships.
In Binh Dinh, 61 people took loans based on the decree to build 61 fishing boats, including 48 steel-hulled vessels, worth VND933 billion.
The steel boats are quite modern and can sustain stormy weather, costing VND20 billion each.
Four steel boats sank in July and their owners said that it was due to being hit by strange objects. However, the boats have not yet been found, resulting in difficulties in defining the real causes of the sinking.
In some cases, what the boat owners and other fishermen reported on sinking stories were different.
The fishing boat owned by Le Van Thieu from Hoai Nhon District sank off the Spratly Islands. Thieu asked PJICO Binh Dinh for VND9 billion (USD391,304) in compensation.
According to Thieu, the boat with six fishermen on board faced a technical problem and then capsized. The captain quickly called for help by radio and a nearby fishing boat saved the fishermen.
Just a short time earlier, another wooden fishing boat from Hoai Nhon District faced the same situation. The boat owner is seeking an insurance payment of VND7 billion (USD304,347).
Since August, PJICO Binh Dinh has slowed down selling insurance to local fishing boats following their doubts over the boat incidents. As a result, 29 boats have suspended their operations because they lack insurance. By January 1 an additional 37 fishing boats will no longer be insured.
The provincial authorities will work with PJICO Binh Dinh and banks about the issue to resume insurance sales to local fishing boats.
"If fishermen are found to have made fraudulent insurance claims they will be seriously dealt with. Binh Dinh police recently discovered some fishermen who falsified offshore fishing times to take advantage of fuel financial support from the government. The violators were imprisoned,” Chau noted.
Pham Thanh Hai, deputy general director of PJICO Binh Dinh, said after reports of many fishing boats having capsized, the firm had to spend more time on boat procedure verification than usual.
