Two Dutch men drown off Vietnam’s central coast

By Vo Thanh, Nguyen Quy   November 19, 2018 | 12:18 am PT
Two Dutch men drown off Vietnam’s central coast
Lang Co Beach in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, where two Dutch tourists died from drowning Sunday. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Thanh
Ignoring warnings, some foreign tourists jumped into rough seas Sunday at the Lang Co Beach. Two of them drowned.

Authorities in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue Monday morning identified the two dead tourists as Dirk Wapstra and Amoldus Crnelis Joannes Goedhart, both from Holland.

The two men were part of a group of 21 foreign tourists who were on a visit to central Vietnam, local media reported.

The tourists group checked in at a resort in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien-Hue, on Sunday afternoon and registered to bathe at Lang Co, a famous beach in central Vietnam.

Reports said the resort's staff warned them about the rough seas due to bad weather, but they ignored the warnings and went into the dangerous waters. The two Dutch men were washed away by the strong waves. Rescue workers were dispatched to the scene but were unable to rescue them.

The bodies of the victims are being kept at the provincial hospital. Local authorities are completing legal procedures and working with the Dutch embassy to notify the next of kin.

Central Vietnam was experiencing rough seas as an effect of typhoon Toraji, which had weakened into a tropical depression Sunday morning before making landfall in the central and south-central region, bringing heavy downpours and strong winds.

Of the 12.8 million international tourist arrivals in the first ten months of this year, around 64,000 were from Holland.

Last year, a 34-year-old Russian man, Vladislav Sharolov, drowned after jumping into rough seas in the beach resort town of Nha Trang in central Vietnam, ignoring lifeguards’ warnings.

 
 
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