Having been missing without any contact for five days, a Vinalines ship may be wrecked or hijacked, said Do Xuan Quynh, Chairman of the Vietnam Ship-owners' Association (VSA).

Nickel ore liquefies in high humidity 

Quynh, however, seemed to lean toward the possibility that the ship may have had a wreck due to strong wind.

“When the ship made a transmission to Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (Vietnam MRCC) that it was leaning 180 degrees, the wind strong was around the level of 8 or 9 and even higher. My guess is that as the ship was leaning, the cargo may have shifted to one side, causing them to go down,” said Quynh.

He assumed that all the ship’s devices may incur a breakdown, disrupting contact as if the ship had a wreck, electricity may go out.

Concerning the recently spotted oil, he said, “I guess that the ship was sunken 5,000 metres under water, causing all devices to be broken and hindering contact. However, we can’t come into the final conclusion at the moment as the oil may belong to another ship passing by the area.”

Moreover, nickel ore can liquify under high humidity, which may have caused the ship to lean to one side, he shared.

With respect to the second possibility, Quynh noted, “We can’t exclude the possibility that the ship was hijacked, as the Joint War Committee has rated the southern part of the Philippines among the areas subjected to war risk insurance due to high risk of piracy and the frequency of wars there. However, this seems unlikely, as we would still be able to communicate with them unless their communication system was deactivated."

Search efforts intensified

Nguyen Anh Vu, General Director of the Vietnam MRCC, told DTiNews on December 29 that the centre has proposed the National Committee for Search and Rescue intensify search for the missing ship and expand the search area.

Vietnam attempts to resume and intensify search efforts 

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) should ask for more help from other countries in the region to increase search efforts,” he said.

Helicopter searches were halted on December 29, but Vu noted that, "Although those efforts have been stopped, we are willing to resume them given the cooperation of the coast guards of regional nations. This is an international operation."

Despite failing to find out the missing ship and 23 crew members over the past five days, Vinalines Shipping Company, a subsidiary of Vietnam National Shipping Lines, says they are committed to intensify search and rescue operations. The firm has proposed to MoFA and the Filipino Embassy in Vietnam that residents of the Philippines near the area be informed so that they might help in the search.