Vietnam Maritime Administration calls for repatriation of nationals attacked by Houthis

By Doan Loan March 7, 2024 | 07:46 am PT

A view of the True Confidence following an attack by Houthi forces, as announced by the U.S. military. Photo courtesy of X/CENTCOM

The Vietnam Maritime Administration has sought assistance from the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt for the repatriation of Vietnamese ship crew members rescued from a Houthi attack in the Gulf of Aden.

The administration said Thursday that it had received a report by the Hai Phong Marine Services and Trading Investment company (HP Marine) on the four Vietnamese crew members who were aboard the True Confidence at the time of the deadly attack. HP Marine was the company that signed the contracts for the Vietnamese to work on the ship.

On Wednesday the ship was hit by a missile attack by Houthi forces in Yemen. There were 20 crew members on board, including four Vietnamese, and three armed guards.

HP Marine said three people died during the attack, including 41-year-old Dang Duy Kien from Hai Phong. Survivors abandoned the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier, which was traveling from Singapore to Saudi Arabia when the incident happened. They are currently safe on the mainland.

The three other Vietnamese that were on board the ship are: 39-year-old Pham Van Thanh from Hai Phong, 36-year-old Nguyen Van Tao from Hai Duong, and 33-year-old Phung Van An from Thai Binh.

All the crew members have been taken to the LeLaurier hotel in Djibouti.

They were not able to retrieve any of their personal documents from the ship when they were rescued.

Pham Van Thanh is the only one who has been reachable via phone.

HP Marine said it has contacted the families of the crew members, and is cooperating with relevant authorities to protect their rights and to bring them back home to Vietnam.

The True Confidence is under the possession of Liberian maritime company True Confidence Shipping, and was being operated by the Greek company January Maritime.

This was so far the first fatal attack since Houthi forces, who call their movement Ansar Allah (partisans of God) began assaulting international shipping through the Red Sea in protest of Israel's bombardment of Gaza.