13 international ships have pledged to help search for 22 missing sailors from the Vinalines Queen cargo ship.   

They made the commitment after the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) contacted them and asked for their assistance on December 31.

MRCC Director General Nguyen Anh Vu said the Taiwanese rescue force has sent a ship to the waters where one Vinalines Queen crewman was found and a Malaysian ship will search the place where the Vinalines vessel was reported missing for three hours.  

Vu said his staff are doing their best to find the remaining crewmembers. He urged their relatives not to lose their hope as Dau Ngoc Hung, a sailor on the cargo ship. was rescued after being adrift at sea on a lifebuoy for more than five days.

Hung will be flown back to Vietnam by plane as soon as he arrives in Singapore on January 4.

(VOV)