By Our Correspondent
The ship encountered engine malfunction; owner tried to assign tug but salvage failed in the face of approaching typhoon NORU, according to FleetMon.

It stated: “Owner ordered 14 crew (5 Vietnamese and 9 Chinese nationalities) to abandoned the ship, they’ve been rescued by Vietnamese SAR ship in the afternoon Sep 26, to be disembarked at Chan May port, north of Da Nang. The ship’s in load, with 26 tons of bunker fuel, her Sep 26 condition and status unknown, AIS off.

“General cargo ship CHINA BOARD 1 reported disabled, adrift in Gulf of Tonkin north of Da Nang, since 2330 UTC Sep 24. the ship is en route from Vung Tau to Macau, understood she encountered problems and approached coast.”