HCM City authorities seek PM’s instructions for investigating suspicious shipwreck                                            By Cong Quang | dtinews.vn                                    HCM City People’s Committee has asked the Prime Minister to instruct the Ministry of Public Security to investigate a recent shipwreck which caused nine deaths and shows signs of possible foul play. While on its way from Go Cong Dong, Tien Giang Province to Vung Tau Province , a motorboat carrying 30 passengers, including two American experts and workers of PetroVietnam Steel Pipe Joint Stock Company, capsized in big waves off Long Hoa Commune in Can Gio District at 7 p.m. on August 2nd 2013. Twenty-one passengers were rescued several hours after the accident, but nine others died. On the morning of August 5, the last two bodies were found.  The accident has raised doubts among the general public about the possible intentional concealment of information about the accident, thereby causing the rescue efforts to be seriously delayed.  According to initial information, ship H29-BP is among three designed and built by Vietnam-Czech Joint Venture Company, which then turned them over to border soldiers in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. The ship is made using the latest technology of the Czech Republic, including anti-shrinking materials. It is designed to transport 12 people.  However the boat, H29-BP, had earlier faced technical problems and was returned to the company on July 9. In spite of being maintained and repaired, on August 2, after a call from a leader from Vung Tau Marina Company, Director of Viet-Czech Joint Venture Company, Vu Xuan Dao, agreed to let the boat, along with two others, leave the workshop to pick up the workers and return to Vung Tau. It is suspected that Dao might have been bribed in order to allow the boats, which were still under repair, to transport the workers regardless of possible dangers. In spite of the fact that the ship had not yet been registered it was permitted to operate by Ba Ria-Vung Tau port authority. The accident happened at around 7:00 p.m on August 2, but it was not until 1:00 a.m on August 3, that rescue boats came to the site, which is only 10km from Can Gio District’s mainland area. It normally takes only 10-20 minutes from the mainland to the site by canoe. According to Le Van Chien, Director of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Port Authority, the late rescue was attributed to the late report about the accident. At 9:00 p.m on August 2, the port authority got an accident report from from a person named Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, from Vung Tau Marina. However, Tuan did not say anything specific about the number of people on the boat nor did he give co-ordinates of the boat's location. Pham Hien, Director of the Area III Marine Rescue and Research Centre, said the centre also received Tuan’s information at 9:00 pm, but it was not until one hour later that Tuan told them the co-ordinates of the boat's position. Tuan said that his colleague, who worked on one of the two other boats, informed him of this. Ten minutes later, the centre sent the rescue boat to the site. The late report has stirred public suspicions on the case. It is a guess that the ship might have run out of fuel and drifted freely on the sea, but the people who were on board thought that they could deal with the situation by themselves, therefore, they reported the case late. However, many people also said that it was possible that the boat was operated illegally as it was still being repaired, plus it transported more passengers than regulated, therefore, some people concerned wanted to hide this information, so that's why they tried to deal with the situation themselves.  Nguyen Nhat, Head of Vietnam Maritime Administration, said authorities are investigating the case, particularly the effort to try to hide the information about the accident, resulting in the late rescue. Why the two other boats did not help the sinking boat when the accident happened is not yet known.  Their two captains, Luc Van Bao and Luc Van Hieu, will be also questioned.