Rescued fishermen ready to go home

Five fishermen from the Philippines rescued by their Vietnamese counterparts on the East Sea have been staying in Tuy Hoa City, the capital of central Phu Yen Province, and are ready to return home now.

As soon as they reached land, they were received by the coast guard and housed in a hotel in the city, according to Huynh Van Dinh, deputy chief of staff of the provincial Coast Guard Force.

The provincial People\'s Committee asked the departments of police, border guards, health care and foreign affairs to take care of the fishermen during their stay in the country.

The Philippine embassy contacted the provincial authorities and carried out proceedings to repatriate the fishermen, expected to be early next week, according to Bui Tien Loi from the province\'s Department of Foreign Affairs.

The fishermen are from Calapandayan Subic Zambales, and their ages range from 24 to 46.

Le Con, a local fisherman and captain of fishing vessel PY90441, and his crew saved and provided first aid to the fishermen on January 30, where they were fishing about 300 nautical miles off the waters of central Binh Dinh Province.

However, Con could not return to land at the time because his ship had set out to sea for only two weeks to fish for tuna, and every trip cost him hundreds of thousands of US dollar.

Con contacted the coast guard and transferred three of the rescued fishermen to his colleagues whose vessels were nearby. The boats reached land on Wednesday and Thursday.