Nguyen Van Chinh, captain of the 991 rescue ship of the Vietnamese Navy,
instructs the rescue operation of the Russian vessel SOKOL
in the East Sea. Photo by VnExpress/Phuc Thinh. 

A Russian vessel and its six-member crew were rescued by the Vietnamese Navy when its engine died at sea off Khanh Hoa Province. 

The Russian vessel, Sokol, was in the East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, when its engine died about 120 nautical miles east-northeast of Khanh Hoa’s Cam Ranh Bay, the submarine brigade of the Vietnamese Navy said Thursday.

The vessel, which was carrying vegetables, drifted at sea at the speed of one nautical mile per hour, it added.

On getting information about the vessel in distress, a rescue ship deployed by the brigade reached the scene at around 10 p.m. Monday. Despite strong winds and waves that partially damaged the rescue ship, it managed to gain access to Sokol at around 0:20 Tuesday.

All six crew members on Sokol were rescued unhurt.

In recent years, the brigade has rescued several foreign ships at sea, including those from Japan, Singapore and Mongolia.

One civilian rescue operation that captured international headlines happened in June last year, when Vietnamese fishermen saved the lives of 22 Filipino brethren whose boat were hit by a Chinese vessel near Vietnam’s Spratly Archipelago.

The Russian vessel Sokol is stranded at sea, about 120 nautical miles
from Khanh Hoa Province. Photo by VnExpress/Phuc Thinh.