Vietnamese Ship Sinks During Island Reclamation in South China Sea, Search Underway

A Vietnamese cargo ship, the Khôi Nguyên 18, sank while undertaking island reclamation activities in the South China Sea, with multiple crew members reported missing. Vietnamese officials familiar with the incident revealed to The New York Times that the vessel was engaged in an operation to build up an island to assert territorial claims when it encountered difficulties. The ship regularly traveled between Cam Ranh, home to a major naval base, and the Spratly Islands (Truong Sa), according to one official. As of July 28, Vietnamese state media reported that 48 out of 62 crew members on board at the time of the incident had been rescued, while 14 remained missing. The crew members rescued by Chinese authorities have been fully handed over to Vietnamese authorities and are en route back to the mainland. The cause of the sinking is attributed to bad weather conditions at sea, which caused the vessel to take on water and sink on the evening of July 25. The Vietnamese Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre stated the accident occurred approximately 55 nautical miles west of Da Lon Island in the Spratly Islands. Authorities in China's Hainan province reported on July 26 that the ship sank in waters near Cuarteron Reef (Da Thập) in the Spratlys. Vietnam claims sovereignty over this reef, which has been under Chinese control since the 1988 Spratly Islands skirmish. The Spratly Islands are a focal point of overlapping claims by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, among others. Beijing's expansive claims over nearly the entire South China Sea were rejected by an international tribunal in 2016. A statement on the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website regarding the Khôi Nguyên 18 did not specify its destination or cargo at the time of the incident. The ship, measuring nearly 70 meters in length and 11 meters in width, was built in 2017. Rescue operations are ongoing. A United Nations resolution on maritime safety, to which Vietnam is a signatory, mandates that all large cargo ships must have their Automatic Identification System (AIS) turned on at all times. However, tracking data indicates that the Vietnam-flagged vessel had not transmitted position data for months. A check on Marine Traffic, an online ship-tracking platform, showed the last recorded location of the Khôi Nguyên 18 was on March 13 in Cam Ranh Bay. Amid stalled negotiations for an ASEAN Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea and China's disregard for international rulings, the region is entering a phase of "every nation for itself," with each country accelerating land reclamation and consolidating its controlled positions. China has dredged and transformed Triton Island (Da Haisam) in the Paracel Islands into a 6 km2 artificial island, with rapid development and new infrastructure suggesting the potential construction of a military runway to bolster its position and deter Vietnam. In response, Vietnam has actively pushed for dredging and land reclamation across all 21 features it controls in the Spratlys, expanding land by over 11 km2 and building military-grade infrastructure. The Philippines, meanwhile, has focused on reinforcing Pagasa Island and Mischief Reef, while strengthening military cooperation with the US, Japan, and Australia. Information Source: BBC Vietnamese