Nine seamen are missing after their cargo ship collided with an unknown vessel and sank in the waters off Vietnam’s southern coast on Tuesday morning.

It’s been reported that the Hai Thanh 26, a 2010-built general cargo carrier, sank roughly 44 nautical miles to the east of Vung Tau City in the province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

According to the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Centre (MRCC), two of 11 crew members were rescued by a passing oil tanker.

Local maritime authorities suspect that the remaining crew members might still be trapped inside the sunken vessel.

The MRCC has deployed two surveillance ships and is also coordinating with other ships operating in the area to search for the missing nine.

– TiVi Tuan-san