Tue, May 25, 2004
In the morning of June 23rd, 1979, the crew of a Dutch oil-exploring ship Neddrill 2, saw a small Vietnamese boat packed with passengers mooring on one of its anchor cables on the South Chinese Sea, just off the coastal city of Vung Tau (Vietnam). It turned out to be the LY9127 with 323 people aboard, trying to escape Vietnam. The boat was wrecked in the storm and sinking. Against the strict orders of a Vietnamese official aboard, the captain refused to oblige and the crew rescued all but 80 people. A trauma for life, for all concerned. After 25 years some crew and two survivors tell their -always kept secret- stories for the first time.