China's maritime rescue vessels have saved 986 fishermen
stranded by Typhoon Hagibis in waters off the Nansha and Xisha
islands, including seven from Vietnam, in an eight-day mission that
concluded on Friday.
The seven Vietnamese fishermen arrived in Sanya, Hainan
Province, on Friday morning, aboard Nanhaijiu 112. Arrangements
have been made for them to travel home directly from Sanya.
"We are very grateful to the Chinese government for saving us,"
said Vietnamese fisherman Huynh Van Mot, 33.
The Vietnamese boat capsized last Tuesday in high winds. Last
Friday, a passing Chinese fishing boat rescued them and gave them
food and water.
In the following days, they lived with the Chinese fishermen,
sharing the already scarce food and water, until Nanhaijiu 112, one
of the three rescue vessels sent by Guangzhou-based Nanhai Rescue
Bureau, reached them on Monday.
Lin Zhong, a senior crewmember of Nanhaijiu 112, said that when
they reached the fishermen their food supplies were already running
very low.
During the typhoon, winds reached over force 10 and the waves
were as high as 9 meters.
It took the vessel more than four days to finally reach the
fishermen, who docked their boats in between the reef to avoid the
typhoon's damage.
By Thursday evening, three rescue vessels and a helicopter had
aided 52 fishing boats from Hainan and Guangdong provinces in the
waters near the Nansha and Xisha islands in the South China
Sea.
(China Daily December 1, 2007)