A tragic incident unfolded on Saturday as a boat carrying dozens of tourists capsized in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, resulting in the loss of at least 34 lives, as reported by state-owned media. The boat was on a sightseeing tour and had a total of 48 passengers along with five crew members when a sudden thunderstorm hit the region. The strong winds generated high swells that ultimately led to the vessel overturning, as detailed by various Vietnamese news outlets.
Rescue teams, including naval commandos from Quang Ninh Province in northeastern Vietnam, worked tirelessly to recover the bodies, with reports indicating that 34 bodies were retrieved, including at least eight children among the deceased, according to Dantri, a state-owned media outlet. Emergency crews continued their search efforts into the night, successfully pulling at least 10 survivors from the water, including a boy who had remained in the water for several hours.
Bui Cong Hoan, the deputy chairman of the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, described this event as “the worst accident I’ve known in Ha Long Bay in the last 25 years” during a telephone interview. All individuals aboard, both passengers and crew, were confirmed to be Vietnamese citizens, as reported by state-run media.
Images from the scene depicted the boat completely overturned, with its hull protruding above the water's surface. Heartbreakingly, reports emerged of one family, consisting of two parents and their two children, where only the mother survived the catastrophe. In response to the incident, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered civil defense workers, alongside the Defense and Public Security Ministries, to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts, according to Vietnam’s official government news site.
The ill-fated boat was returning from a tour of the Dau Go and other limestone caves in Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its stunning scenery, which includes more than 1,600 islands. The vessel was part of a tour association and was one of hundreds of boats that transport tourists around the bay daily.
This incident is not the first of its kind in Vietnam. In 2022, a tragic accident involving a speedboat capsizing off the coast of Quang Nam resulted in the deaths of 17 tourists. The boat's captain received a seven-year prison sentence for the tragedy, as reported by Vietnamese news outlets. Earlier, in 2009, another devastating event occurred when an overloaded ferry sank in a river in central Vietnam, claiming the lives of 40 individuals, which police labeled as one of the country's worst maritime disasters.
