AIR SEARCH ABANDONED

After three days of unsuccessful search for the "Vinalines Queen", the Philippines and Japan stopped using helicopters in their search and rescue operations on Dec 29. The Vietnam Shipping Lines Group (Vinalines) and the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre have kept contact with ships operating near the area where the vessel was reported missing and asked for their support to find the trace of oil spill. They have also worked closely with international organizations to update information about the Vinalines Queen, which has disappeared on Dec 25, without any trace, just oil streaks. The missing ship might have sunk due to a huge amount of nickel ore absorbing the sea water and causing an imbalance for the ship. There is still little hope for rescuing the ship as the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Center has not received any signal, automatically sent from the ship when it is in an emergency. In case the "Vinalines Queen" sank, it is lying in a water depth of around 5000 meters. The vessel with 23 sailors and more than 54,000 tons of nickel ore on board lost contact after passing northeast of the Philippine's Luzon Island heading to Ningde port from Morowali. Bad weather has so far prevented ships from accessing the area where the vessel lost contact. Report with photos: english.vietnamne...

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