Mr. H.V.M - a captain of a tourist ship in Ha Long Bay - said that ship owners received a thunderstorm warning via Zalo group between the Inland Waterway Port Authority of Quang Ninh province and ship owners at around 1:44 p.m. on July 19.
According to cruise ship owners, in cases where warnings are needed, authorities often send notices via Zalo, so that ship owners can proactively respond; in case they have to return to shore, there must be an official dispatch.
However, about 15 minutes later, at around 1:45 p.m. on July 19, the QN - 7105 tourist boat was unfortunately capsized due to a thunderstorm in the area near Dau Go cave, Ha Long Bay.
At the time of the accident, the QN - 7105 tourist ship was running through a very empty area in Ha Long Bay, causing the ship to be sunk by a whirlwind very quickly.
The boat owner, also the captain - Mr. Doan Van Trinh (from Ha An ward, Quang Ninh province) - died in the boat capsize.
Ship QN - 7105 was issued an order to depart at noon on July 19. The shipment order for this port was issued by the Quang Ninh Inland Waterway Authority based on the weather forecast bulletin issued by the Quang Ninh Provincial Hydrometeorological Station at 10:20 a.m. on the same day.
Meanwhile, responding to Lao Dong this morning (July 20), Mr. Pham The The - Director of the Quang Ninh Provincial Hydrometeorological Station - affirmed: "Regarding the 24/24 weather monitoring process, when detecting thunderstorms and unusually dangerous weather, the Quang Ninh Provincial Hydrometeorological Station immediately issued a warning message and sent it to the authorities according to regulations, to implement the direction and response plans".
These reports all warn that during thunderstorms, it is necessary to be on guard against dangerous weather phenomena such as lightning, tornadoes, strong gusts of wind and landslides, which can break trees, damage houses, traffic works, infrastructure and endanger people's lives. The warning level of natural disaster risk due to tornadoes, lightning, and hail is level 1. Requesting agencies, units and people in affected areas to pay attention to monitoring and proactively preventing to ensure safety.
Warning bulletins and weather forecasts were issued at 3:30 p.m. on July 18, 4:30 a.m. on July 19, 11:45 a.m. on July 19 and 1:30 p.m. on July 19. In particular, the announcement at 4:30 a.m. on July 19 of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting warned of the possibility of tornadoes and strong gusts of wind during thunderstorms and the bulletin at 11:45 a.m. on July 19, the Quang Ninh Provincial Hydrometeorological Station warned of thunderstorms, tornadoes, lightning, hail and local heavy rain in Quang Ninh.
In addition to the Inland Waterway Port, warning information about thunderstorms on July 19 was also sent by the Quang Ninh Provincial Hydrometeorological Station to the following units:
- Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee Office
- People's Committee of Quang Ninh province
- Quang Ninh Maritime Port Authority
- Quang Ninh Newspaper
- The Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention - Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of Quang Ninh province.
The tourist boat capsize on July 19 was the largest tourist boat accident in Ha Long Bay ever, with a large number of deaths.
Up to now, in addition to the 10 people who were rescued, the rescue forces have found 35 bodies; the remaining 4 cases are still missing.
By this morning, the authorities had completed the procedures and handed over 30 deceased victims to their families for burial.
