Thousands of tourists stranded on Van Don beach

Accordingly, on the morning of April 29, some owners of passenger ship companies running the Van Don - Quan Lan route reported that there are currently nearly 2,000 tourists drifting at sea because low tides prevent the ships from docking at port.

According to the ship owners, not only can passengers from the mainland not dock at the island, but there are also about 2,000 passengers on the island who want to return to the mainland but there are no ships.

Passengers sit on the side of the ship waiting for the tide to rise to dock. Photo by Nguyen Hung — Passengers sit on the side of the ship waiting for the tide to rise before docking. Photo by Nguyen Hung

This situation has been going on for several days now because of the low tide, preventing passenger ships from entering the dock at Quan Lan island commune.

According to a representative of the Quang Ninh Inland Waterways Port Authority, the unit explained to tourists about the unavoidable situation due to the water level, and also asked tourists to wait until the tide was high enough to board the ship because they would not be able to dock even if they left.

Tourists waiting to get on the island. Photo by Nguyen Hung

For passengers already on board, the ship owners have come up with a temporary solution of using small boats to lift passengers ashore and herd the remaining passengers to the bow of the ship to move; in case the water level is still not high enough, they are forced to use small boats to pull them because moving will damage the propeller system.

It is known that Con Quy port is a deep-water port, even when the tide is low, ships can still enter and exit this port normally. Meanwhile, the main port of Quan Lan is shallow, so when the tide is low, ships cannot enter and exit the port.

Source