Photos showing sailors insung boat battling for lives
Photos have emerged of the rescue of Asian seamen in freezing Antarctic waters south of New Zealand earlier this month following the sinking of a Korean fishing boat with the loss of 21 lives.
Vietnamese media published the photos today amid growing anger in Vietnam over what they report are slave like conditions aboard Korean boats.
The 31-year-old No. 1 Insung, operating out of Bluff and fishing for toothfish in New Zealand's Ross Sea, sank on December 13, about halfway to Antarctica.
Of its 42 crew, five bodies were recovered while 17 others are missing presumed dead. Four of the dead were Vietnamese.
The survivors returned to Bluff last week and have now reached home.
VietNamNet, a web arm of state controlled media, published a set of photos taken by sailor Le Quang Ruc who was aboard one of the rescue boats that moved into the scene.
Vietnamese newspapers are also carrying the bleak photos which indicate it was lucky anybody survived the freezing conditions.
Earlier this week VietNamNet, under a headline "Thousands of expatriate sailors face risks and difficulties" reported the public was "paying special attention to the sunken Korean fishing vessel in the Antarctic".
It said more than ,1000 Vietnamese sailors currently work for Korean fishing ships with a similar number working on Taiwanese vessels.
Young sailors earn US$180 (NZ$238) and experienced sailors US$210 (NZ$279) a month. Factory workers on average earn up to five times more.
"Sailors are also in the group of workers who face high risks of maltreatment and enslavement," the website said
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