Naval forces of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command rescued five crew members from a Vietnamese ship that sank in waters near Yongshu Reef of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea on Sunday.
At approximately 10:00 on Sunday, soldiers aboard the missile frigate Rizhao spotted the five people in the water and immediately dispatched a boat to rescue them.
Two Vietnamese crew members showing signs of hypothermia were treated aboard the hospital ship Youhao, meaning "Friendship" in English, for three and a half hours and were no longer in life-threatening condition.
All those rescued have now been safely transferred, while the Southern Theater Command Navy continues its search-and-rescue efforts.
A total of 46 crew members from the sunken Vietnamese ship were rescued as of 21:00 on Sunday, including one person rescued by the Vietnamese side, authorities in the south China city of Sansha said.
At 20:05, the Chinese side transferred 41 of those rescued in batches by life rafts from the Chinese rescue vessel Nanhai Jiu 115 to the Vietnamese naval ship Truong SA-01. The remaining four people are scheduled to be handed over on Monday.
At 18:23 on Saturday, the Nanhai Jiu 115, operated by the Ministry of Transport's Nanhai Rescue Bureau, detected what appeared to be distress signals at sea. After spotting a life raft carrying several people who were waving clothing to attract attention, the rescue vessel approached and began rescue operations.
According to the Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities, all those rescued are Vietnamese nationals from the distressed vessel Khoi Nguyen 18. The ship is 69.9 meters long and 10.8 meters wide and was carrying 62 people when the accident occurred.
Six Chinese vessels, one rescue helicopter and seven Vietnamese vessels are continuing search-and-rescue operations at the scene.
Chinese military rescues 5 after Vietnamese ship sinks in South China Sea
