The boat vanished in the southern Atlantic Ocean after its skipper reported it was taking on water. Authorities said that Hsiang Fu Chun, a 700-ton squid fishing vessel, lost contact with its owners after reporting that there was a leak on the deck at around 3 a.m. on February 26. The vessel was sailing about 3,000 kilometers off the coast of the Falkland Islands when it vanished, according to recorded satellite data. Taiwan is on its way to search for the vessel and called for help from Argentina and Britain and other boats in the region.
In reply to reporters' question about the two missing Vietnamese sailors, Deputy spokesperson for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry Pham Thu Hang said that upon being informed of the incident, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry had instructed the Vietnam Economics and Culture Office in Taiwan and the Vietnamese embassy in Argentina to coordinate with local relevant agencies to identify and seek for the two missing Vietnamese sailors. Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had instructed the Department of Consular Affairs to coordinate with Vietnamese relevant agencies to identify the two sailors in order to work with the Taiwanese and Argentinian sides.