Rescuers Search for 17 Missing After Vietnamese Ship Sinks in South China Sea

Rescuers were searching on Sunday for 17 people missing after a Vietnamese ship sank in the South China Sea, China’s state media reported. Authorities in the Chinese island province of Hainan said the cargo vessel Khoi Nguyen 18 ran into trouble near Yongshu Reef, also known as Fiery Cross Reef, state broadcaster CCTV said. The ship was carrying 62 crew members, and 45 people were rescued from the water. Vietnamese authorities arrived at the scene immediately after the cargo ship “sank while operating in bad weather conditions in the East Sea,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement to AFP news agency. What we know about the sinking incident A Chinese rescue ship, the Nanhai Jiu 115, first spotted what was believed to be a distress flare from the vessel shortly before 6:30 pm on Saturday (1030 GMT). The Khoi Nguyen 18 is a Vietnamese-registered ship measuring just under 70 meters (230 feet) in length, according to state news agency Xinhua. It added that six Chinese vessels, a rescue helicopter and a Vietnamese vessel were involved in the search-and-rescue operations. Hang said that authorities and fishing vessels were “actively searching for the remaining people.” Territorial disputes in South China Sea Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, despite the 2016 international ruling, initiated by the Philippines against China, that its assertion has no legal basis. One of the most highly contested areas is the Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands, where China has built runways and militarized artificial islands. But Beijing’s sweeping claims to the busy waterway overlap with those of other countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. Edited by: Kieran Burke