Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem Friday presided over a meeting on searching nine fishermen who were arrested and then said to be released by China and on the way to go home.
Mr. Pham Gia Khiem said that the Vietnamese Government paid special attention to the search for the fishermen and involved forces such as customs, border guards, sea police, rescuers and fishing vessels in the salvage.
The foreign ministry continues to require China to cooperate in looking for the fishermen and facilitate Vietnamese rescuers, said the deputy PM.
Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said that Vietnamese Embassy representative in China discuss the missing case of the fishermen with Chinese Foreign Ministry representative on Friday afternoon.
At the discussion, Chinese FM representative said that Chinese rescuing forces had used patrolling vessels to follow the route along which the missing vessel and its fishermen were predicted to pass.
China also deploys helicopters to find the fishermen, Ms. Phuong Nga quoted the Chinese representative as saying.
The Vietnamese National Committee for Search and Rescue issued an announcement on international maritime rescue for the missing vessel on Friday.
Up to now the missing vessel has not come home and rescuers not yet receive signal from the missing vessel or its fishermen.
The nine fishermen were arrested by Chinese authority as fishing in Vietnamese water area last month. China said that they had used explosive devices to catch fish. The Vietnamese Government, however, had rejected the accusation and continuously asked Chinese authorities to free the fishermen. Last week China said it had released the fishermen and their vessel and provided food and petrol for them to go home.
However they not yet arrive in the country and were believed to miss on the way to go home as a tropical low pressure attacked the Vietnamese East Sea during their return journey.
