Blue Bay 58 ship capsized in Ha Long: shocking photo revealed, exonerating 'knowing the storm but still going'

Social media is constantly buzzing with the news that a tourist boat carrying passengers to visit Ha Long Bay suddenly encountered a storm and capsized in Gia Luan area (Cat Hai, Quang Ninh), causing dozens of deaths, and 5 people are still missing and have not been found.

Immediately after the incident, social media was flooded with mixed opinions. Some said that the passengers and the ship operators ignored warnings about storm number 3 and continued to operate tours in the bay in unsafe weather conditions.

However, many other opinions refuted, saying that this was an unavoidable accident due to the sudden and completely unpredictable storm phenomenon.

One person said: "This was a sudden thunderstorm caused by air convection after many days of prolonged hot weather. Typhoon Wipha was still in the East Sea at that time, and was expected to affect the mainland on July 21-22. From morning until 1:30 pm this afternoon, Ha Long was still sunny. However, only about 30 minutes later, there were big waves and strong winds. At around 2:05 pm, the ship capsized. The sudden thunderstorm hit, and no one could have predicted it, whether the ship owner or the passengers."

Many people also believe that opinions such as "knowing the storm but still going" or "trying to run the train to avoid losing money" are one-sided and affirm that this is an unfortunate incident that no one wants.

In addition, many opinions also said that if the weather turns bad, the authorities will issue an official document prohibiting ships from entering the bay, all means of transport will be forced to stop operating. Customers will be refunded or change the date if they have booked a ship at that time. However, this is a case that cannot be foreseen.

Mr. Bui Cong Hoan - Vice President of Ha Long Tourist Boat Association - said that the weather on the morning of July 19 in Ha Long was very nice, and the tourist boats departed normally. However, at around 1 pm, a sudden storm appeared with strong winds, thunder and hail, causing the Vinh Xanh boat to have an accident.

Mr. Hoan also witnessed the moment a 14-year-old boy was rescued from the ship's cabin by authorities after being trapped for more than 4 hours. Rescue work, support for passengers and investigation into the cause of the incident are still being urgently carried out. The incident once again raises a big problem of dealing with extreme weather in sea tourism activities.

Regarding the unusual thunderstorm on the afternoon of July 19, according to Mr. Mai Van Khiem - Director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the thunderstorms with strong winds were not caused by the circulation of storm No. 3 Wipha. These are just normal thunderstorms during the rainy season in the North. The western edge of the storm's circulation can cause thunderstorms before the storm for our mainland from the evening and night of tomorrow, July 20.

"The cause of the thunderstorms this afternoon in the North is due to wind convergence along a low trough across the North in a Northwest - Southeast direction," Mr. Khiem analyzed.

On July 19, the Green Bay 58 tourist ship with registration number QN-7105, captained by Doan Van Trinh, took a group of tourists to visit Ha Long Bay. According to initial information, at around 12:55 on July 19, the Green Bay 58 tourist ship (license plate number QN-7105) carrying 48 passengers and 5 crew members departed to visit route 2 on Ha Long Bay (including Sung Sot Cave - Ti Top Island).

During the trip, at around 1:30 p.m., the ship suddenly encountered a storm. At 2:05 p.m., the ship lost GPS signal and lost contact completely. The location of the accident was between Hon Ga and Bai Tho Mountain (about 3 nautical miles from the mainland). At the time of the accident, the Vinh Xanh 58 ship was carrying 51 people, including 48 passengers and 3 crew members.

Immediately after the incident, the Quang Ninh Provincial Border Guard directed the Hon Gai Port Border Guard Station to coordinate with other forces to quickly approach the scene to search and rescue.

Regarding the case of the Green Bay 58 ship capsized in Ha Long Bay, many people wonder how many people this tourist ship is allowed to carry.

The ship was granted a certificate of registration for inland waterway vehicle on May 21, 2015 by the Department of Transport of Quang Ninh (old).

Name of the vessel: Green Bay 58, registration number QN-7105, used as a tourist vessel. The number of people allowed to carry is 48 passengers. The vessel was last inspected on January 10, 2025 at the Inland Waterway Vehicle Inspection Station of the Department of Transport of Quang Ninh. The vessel's inspection period is until February 4, 2026. Thus, when the accident occurred, the vessel was still within the inspection period.

Bank robbery in Quang Ninh: super sharp camera captured 1 identification point Mỹ Hoa17:17:24 30/05/2025The incident in the clip below occurred at around 4:53 p.m. on May 29 at a transaction office of a joint stock commercial bank located in Yen Thanh ward, Uong Bi city, Quang Ninh.