A BOAT packed with sleeping tourists sank in Halong Bay yesterday, killing 12 people from nine countries in Vietnam’s worst tour boat accident in more than two decades.
Tourists from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, Russia, France, Sweden and Switzerland were confirmed among the dead, along with a Vietnamese tour guide.
Other boats in the area rescued another nine foreigners – two Danes, one German, two Italians, one American, one Australian, one French and one Swiss – and six locals.
The cause of the accident remains unclear, though the vessel was anchored alongside dozens of other boats and weather conditions were calm at the time of the sinking.
Many tourists stay overnight in the bay – a Unesco World Heritage Site – on boats equipped with sleeping cabins.
