Close-up of a series of sunken ships in Ha Long Bay 2 weeks after Typhoon Yagi still not salvaged

Cận cảnh loạt tàu đắm ở vịnh Hạ Long 2 tuần sau bão Yagi vẫn chưa được trục vớt - Ảnh 1. — Ship owners set up a camp to look after the ship and wait for salvage, recorded on September 21 - Photo: NGOC AN

According to Tuoi Tre Online , Tuan Chau International Port - the starting point for tourists visiting Ha Long Bay - two weeks after Typhoon Yagi swept through, many ship owners here are still in shock.

Dozens of ships worth about 3 billion VND were sunk by the storm, leaving only the frames and bows protruding above the water right before their eyes, but the ship owners were helpless as they could not quickly salvage the ships for repair and to minimize damage.

Helplessly watching the ship sink and not being able to be salvaged

Pointing to her family’s three sunken ships, Ms. M. shared with Tuoi Tre Online that the three cruise ships belonged to her family and her younger brother, and were located next to each other and all sank after the storm. Each ship is worth 3 billion VND, not to mention the equipment and supplies on board, which are worth nearly ten billion VND, and are sinking every day with the sunken ship.

Because although we have found units providing ship salvage services, after assessing the level of the ship's sinking, some units refused.

With a burning heart, Ms. M. wiped away her tears and shared her helplessness when she could not find a salvage unit, and was disoriented because she did not know when the ship would be brought ashore for repairs, while all her belongings were gradually sinking with the sinking ship.

“If we keep doing this, I don’t know if we can fix it when the ship is salvaged. The ship has no insurance, the investment costs are all borrowed from the bank, now with the cost of salvaging the ship in the hundreds of millions, and the cost of repairing it in the billions, I don’t know where to get back on my feet.

Looking at the sunken ships, we don't want to live because we don't know what will happen in the future when the bank burden is too heavy, and we don't know how to start over?" - Ms. M. shared.

Cận cảnh loạt tàu đắm ở vịnh Hạ Long 2 tuần sau bão Yagi vẫn chưa được trục vớt - Ảnh 3. — Series of tourist boats sunk and suffered serious damage

Nearby, a shack has been set up by boat owners to look after the sunken boats. When asked why the sunken boats have not been salvaged in the past two weeks, an upset boat owner said he had sought to hire salvage companies, but the costs kept increasing and no company was available to do so.

The cost of salvaging the ship increased but there was still no recipient.

He cited that the cost of salvaging a ship per day used to be 40 million VND, but now it has increased to 60 million VND, or even doubled, but no unit has accepted it. Not to mention the cost of transportation and repair, ranging from several hundred million to billions of VND, making it very difficult and helpless for ship and boat owners because they do not know how to handle it.

According to local statistics, 23 tourist ships anchored to take shelter from the storm at Tuan Chau International Tourist Port sank, most of which have not been salvaged.

The cost of repairing ships depends on the extent of damage to each ship, but for sightseeing ships, the repair cost ranges from 500 million to 1 billion VND, for accommodation ships from 5 - 10 billion VND or even tens of billions of VND.

Mr. Tran Van Hong - Head of the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association - said that the boat owners have reported the damage to the local authorities. Currently, all levels of the industry have affirmed that they will have the most supportive policies to remove difficulties for the boat owners.

Therefore, ship owners are currently looking forward to the authorities soon taking measures to support salvage, repair ships, reduce and extend loan interest rates to reduce losses for ship owners and soon restore business operations as the peak tourist season approaches.