VNExpress-Nov 9
It took Vietnam’s SAR 413 vessel nearly 10 hours to get 303 Sri Lankans safely to shore in Vung Tau Tuesday, collecting them from a Japanese vessel. The Sri Lankans were first found on Lady R3, which was flying the Myanmar flag. They might have been traveling from Myanmar to Canada. The Lady 3 was found adrift and flooded by seawater on Monday by Japanese vessel Helios Leader, around 258 nautical miles (470 km) to the southeast of the southern Vung Tau Town. All crew and passengers on the Lady R3 were rescued and taken aboard the Helios Leader. The Japanese vessel then changed its course to hand over the rescued people to Vietnam. On Tuesday, the first Sri Lankans left Helios Leader to board the SAR 413 vessel deployed by the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center stationed in Vung Tau.
Medical personnel were also on board to provide needed assistance. V. Moganasuvanthan, 37, said he was a farmer and that he had given $4,000 to a middleman to migrate to Canada, hoping for a better life. Sri Lankan diplomats and the International Organization for Migration under the U.N. have said that the rescued people would be provided with ample food and needed healthcare. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said the ministry was cooperating international organizations and authorities to provide humanitarian support in accordance with Vietnamese law and international regulations. Sri Lanka has been suffering from an acute financial crisis for months. An estimated 22 million people are living with severe fuel, food and medicine shortages, along with record-high inflation and long-lasting blackouts. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/photo/news/the-10-hour-operation-that-rescued-303-sri-lankans-stranded-at-sea-4534055.html
