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Three fishermen on a squid-fishing vessel from the central province of Quang Nam have been missing since Monday when their ship sank about eight nautical miles away from Thuyen Chai (Barque Canada) Reef in Vietnam’s Spratly Islands.
They were trying to avoid the tropical depression when the accident happened. 41 other fishermen on the vessel have been rescued.
Seven people have also gone missing in Huong Khe District of the nearby Ha Tinh Province since Monday after a group of nine went into a forest to find leaves to make hats. Authorities have managed to make contact with only two, local media reported.
In the central province of Quang Binh, 30-year-old Ho Thi Chan was swept away by a flash flood in Minh Hoa District on Monday. The Minh Hoa Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said Tuesday that she was still missing.
The tropical depression made landfall at around 4 a.m. on the central coast from Thua Thien-Hue to Quang Nam Provinces with wind speeds of 40-50kph, said the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
It then moved northeast towards the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, and has weakened.
Due to the tropical depression, central Vietnam experienced heavy downpours on Tuesday with rainfall of between 250-530mm. Rainfall of 180mm a day is considered heavy.
Several provinces have experienced flooding, crop losses and house collapses. Many places in Quang Tri Province are experiencing their worst flood in a decade.
About 2,000 hectares of crop were flooded and dozens of houses were damaged in Ha Tinh since Monday due to heavy rain and strong wind.
People evacuate properties as flooding hits Ha Tinh Province. Video by VnExpress/Duc Hung.
Several localities and roads in Quang Binh were also heavily flooded, paralyzing traffic.
Until Thursday, rainfall of between 70-150mm is expected from Nghe An to Quang Nam.
Natural disasters, mostly floods, storms and landslides, killed 181 people last year and left 37 others missing and caused losses of around VND20 trillion ($858 million).
