Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has stated that the island nation has initiated diplomatic communications with the Vietnamese authorities to repatriate the Sri Lankans rescued at sea off the Spratly Islands.
The rescue operation was initiated after the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre received news that Myanmar-flagged Lady R3 with 303 Sri Lankans, who were suspected to be headed to Canada, was in distress, a spokesperson for the agency was cited by the Vietnamese news portal VnExpress.
When the vessel was around 258 nautical miles off Vung Tau in the southern coast, it had sent a distress signal after its engine room flooded and the vessel began to drift. There were rough seas at the time, according to reports.
On November 7th, the Japanese cargo ship Helios Leader en-route from Japan to Singapore approached the distressed vessel and brought all 305 Sri Lankan citizens and sailors on board and proceeded to Vung Tau where it was met by the Vietnamese Coast Guard.
The Vietnamese functional forces boarded the Herios Leader Vessel, a vehicle carrier, anchored off the coast of Vung Tau to receive the more than 300 Sri Lankans.
Accompanying the delegation on board the ship SAR 413 were representatives of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Vietnam.
