25 Crew Rescued After Abandoning MSC Hermes III East of Vietnam

At 08:45 on 22 September, Singapore's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre received a distress alert from MSC Hermes III, a 2,490-TEU container ship about 300 kilometres east of Vietnam. All 25 crew members abandoned ship in a lifeboat.

Three ships responded to the broadcast. The MSC Ruby recovered all 25 from the lifeboat. No injuries were reported.

The cause of the abandonment has not been disclosed. Singapore's Maritime Port Authority has not provided details on what prompted the crew to leave the ship. MRCC Singapore coordinated with Vietnam's rescue body to arrange for the seafarers to reach shore.

MSC Hermes III is a Liberia-registered containership built in 2006, 212 metres long and rated at 2,490 TEU. Its deadweight is 38,193 tonnes. MSC acquired the ship in 2020. According to The Maritime Executive, it had been running a regional feeder service connecting Shanghai and Jakarta before the incident.

The incident unfolded within Singapore's Maritime Search and Rescue Region. In August, a cargo hold fire halted the container ship CMA CGM Petra in the Strait of Malacca for more than a week while professional salvors were called in.