Twelve dead in Vietnam tourist boat sinking

HALONG BAY: Twelve people, most of them foreigners, died Thursday when their tour boat suddenly sank while they slept in Halong Bay, one of Vietnam's top tourist destinations, officials said.

Visitors from the United States, Sweden, Russia, Britain, Japan, France and Switzerland were believed to be among those killed in the pre-dawn accident, the Vietnamese foreign ministry said.

One survivor recounted a frantic attempt to escape from below deck as the vessel went down abruptly in calm weather on the picturesque bay, renowned for its beautiful limestone towers.

"Oh my God... The ship is sinking. We need to get off!" George Fosmire, a 23-year-old American, remembered his girlfriend warning after the listing ship tipped her out of bed in their cabin.

Fosmire, his voice breaking, said he feared his girlfriend and another young woman in their cabin did not escape the rushing waters. Both women were American.

"The whole thing took between 30 seconds and a minute," said Fosmire, who escaped through a window.

"I had to put my face to the ceiling to suck any air," he recalled after he and other survivors were rescued by other boats in the area.

The 12 dead included 10 foreigners and two Vietnamese, said Vu Van Thin, a local government official in Quang Ninh province.

Sweden confirmed that two of its citizens -- both women in their early 20s -- had died.

The United States embassy in Hanoi said two of its nationals were killed.

"We are saddened by the loss of life," a spokesman said.

France's embassy confirmed that French people were "involved" in the incident, but their fate was not yet clear.

The Vietnamese victims were a tourist and an interpreter for the overseas visitors, Thin said.

Nine tourists and six crew survived the accident, he said.

Many of the wooden-hulled Halong Bay tour boats have dining facilities and cabins for tourists to spend the night on the waters.

"According to our initial information part of the boat suddenly broke," but bad weather was not to blame, Thin said.

The sunken vessel had not yet been salvaged, police said.

One boat operator said a temporary ban had been placed on overnight tours following the incident, although there was no official confirmation.

Halong Bay, located in the Gulf of Tonkin about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of the capital Hanoi, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994.

Its 1,600 islands and islets form a spectacular seascape of mostly uninhabited limestone pillars made famous by the 1992 French movie "Indochine".

There have been previous incidents in the area.

In September 2009 three foreign tourists -- two from Britain and one from France -- died along with a local guide when their vessel overturned during heavy rain on the bay.

Official data show that in the first 10 months of last year more than 2.3 million tourists visited Halong Bay, evenly split between local visitors and foreigners, with almost 200,000 boat trips during the period.

Authorities recorded 19 unspecified maritime safety infractions in the bay during the period, according to the figures. (AFP)