BBC News
At least 35 people have died and several are still missing after a tourist boat capsized in Vietnam during bad weather.
The incident took place in Ha Long Bay, a popular tourist destination in the north of the country.
Most of the passengers were reportedly Vietnamese families visiting from the capital Hanoi. Local police said 10 people had so far been pulled from the water alive.
The devastated mother of a 21-year-old victim said she wished she could change places with her son. “All I want to do is die”, she cried.
“I don’t want anything in this world anymore, I’m so tired,” Nguyen Thi Lien told the Reuters news agency.
Trang Trung Tu, whose 32-year-old brother died in the incident, said: “My brother can swim, but I was told everything happened too fast.”
The vessel, named Wonder Seas, was carrying 53 people when it capsized after encountering a sudden storm, a statement from the Vietnamese Border Guards and navy said.
An eyewitness told AFP news agency that the sky suddenly darkened around 14:00 local time on Saturday (07:00 GMT).
There were “hailstones as big as toes with torrential rain, thunderstorm and lightning,” he said.
Getty ImagesA 10-year-old boy was rescued after being trapped in an air pocket in the upturned hull, local media reported.
“I took a deep breath… dived, then swam up. I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat,” the boy – who had been travelling with his parents – told VietnamNet.
Of the bodies so far recovered, at least eight were children, VNExpress said on Saturday.
Heavy rain hindered the search for survivors, which continued overnight into Sunday.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences to the families of the dead.
Authorities will investigate the cause of the accident and “strictly handle violations”, a government statement said.
Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province is dotted with hundreds of tiny islets, attracting four million tourists in 2019, and is a Unesco World Heritage site.
It was previously reported that 37 people had died and 11 had survived, but police later revised the figure.
