The National Committee for Incident, Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday to ask China for help to search for the boat, which had sailed from the central province of Quang Binh.

A similar request has been made by the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center to the China Maritime Rescue Coordination Center.

The Vietnamese Navy and Coast Guard have also been asked to search for the vessel.

The ship, owned and helmed by Nguyen Thanh Dam, set sail from the Gianh Estuary on June 23 with four other fishermen, Nguyen Van Chien, 44, Nguyen Van Duc, 52, Nguyen Van Xuan, 58, and Nguyen Van Tho, 54, on board.

On July 2, Dam contacted his brother saying he was trying to avoid a storm near China’s Hainan Island. That was the last time he made contact with his family.

Quang Binh authorities have deployed 700 fishing boats for the last 10 days to search for the vessel.