Body of missing Vietnamese sailor found in sunken ship off Japan

By Quy Nguyen March 3, 2020 | 09:00 pm PT

This aerial view shows the flooded Kawagoe Kings Garden nursing home besides the Oppegawa river in Saitama prefecture on October 13, 2019, one day after Typhoon Hagibis swept through central and eastern Japan. Photo by AFP.

One of two Vietnamese sailors working on a Panama-flagged cargo ship that sank last October off Japan has been found dead inside the vessel.

On Monday the wife of the victim, Nguyen Van Tri, said the owner of the ship, JIA DE, informed the company that sent her husband to work on board that Tri's body was found inside during the salvage of the vessel, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Japanese authorities confirmed it after conducting DNA more than a week later, and she is completing procedures to bring her husband’s ashes home on Wednesday, she said.

The 1,925-ton ship was anchored in Tokyo Bay on October 12 last year when contact was lost at about 9:40 p.m. Hagibis, one of the strongest storms to hit Japan since 1958, struck at that time and caused widespread damage across the country, killing 74 people.

There were 12 crew members on the ship, three from Myanmar, two from Vietnam and seven from China.

On October 13 the Japanese Coast Guard said four sailors had been rescued, including the other Vietnamese crew member, Pham Van Duc, two Myanmarese and one Chinese.

All the others have since been confirmed dead.