On January 5, Dung Quat Port Border Guard Station (Quang Ngai) informed about the inspection results of foreign fishing vessels drifting and stranded in local waters.
Accordingly, at 6:30 am on the same day, the unit coordinated with the Coast Guard Region 2 force to approach and inspect a foreign fishing boat drifting and stranded in the waters of Dung Quat Port.
Through inspection, functional forces did not detect any people or corpses on the ship. Steel-hulled ship number 08888. The equipment and machinery outside were not working; many positions and parts were rusty and damaged.
The hull size at the longest point is 46.42m, the width is 8.5m, and the depth is 4.2m. Inspecting the open compartments and tunnels, no unusual items or goods were detected.
Checking the storage system, supplying fuel to the main engine, functional forces discovered diesel oil contained in sealed cages. However, the specific quantity has not been determined because the measuring equipment on the ship was damaged and has been modified with equipment that has not been inspected.
This is a fishing boat, no military equipment was detected. However, there were no fishing gear on board, no signs of fishing activities; only traces of crew members' activities were recorded, estimated to be about 5-7 days before the time the boat was found stranded.
Initial assessment shows that during fishing at sea, the ship encountered a major engine failure that could not be repaired, so the crew member left the ship, abandoning the vehicle drifting freely and drifting into Quang Ngai waters.
Currently, diesel oil is still in storage tanks, posing a risk of oil spills, affecting the marine environment.
The location of the sunken ship is only about 200m northeast of the oil pipeline system of Dung Quat Oil Refinery and Petrolimex gasoline and oil warehouse, posing many risks affecting regional defense and security.
Due to complex vehicle structure, the approach force does not have enough expertise to deeply inspect fire and explosion risk factors. Therefore, Dung Quat Port Border Guard Station proposed the Provincial Border Guard Command and Van Tuong Commune People's Committee to advise the Provincial Military Command to assign specialized forces to coordinate in clearing fire and explosives and bringing ships back to a safe state.
At the same time, directing the Quang Ngai Maritime Port Authority to bring functional units to the scene to accurately determine the remaining fuel on the ship to serve the oil spill response work.
