Boat carrying 48 passengers, including 20 children, tipped over during a sudden thunderstorm.

A tourist boat has capsized in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, killing at least 37 people and leaving five others missing, according to Vietnamese state media.

The Wonder Sea Boat, carrying 48 passengers and five crew, tipped over during a sudden thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon, according to the reports.

More than 20 children were among the passengers.

The official Vietnam News Agency said rescue teams had found 10 survivors by Saturday evening and recovered 37 bodies by Sunday morning.

Four of the victims have yet to be identified.

Rescue teams continued the search through the night and have now brought the salvaged boat to shore, according to VNA.

Most of those on board were Vietnamese families visiting from the capital, Hanoi, the news outlet VNExpress said.

A 14-year-old boy was rescued after four hours trapped in the overturned hull, it said.

Another rescued child recounted his ordeal to state media.

“I took a deep breath, swam through a gap, dived, then swam up. I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat with soldiers,” the 10-year-old boy told state-run VietnamNet.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences to the families of the deceased.

Authorities will “investigate and clarify the cause of the incident and strictly handle violations”, a statement on the government’s website said.

According to the Vietnam Law Magazine, the boat capsized amid a sudden bout of extreme weather that unleashed torrential rain, lightning and fierce winds through northern Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin.

“The National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting attributed the extreme weather to a convergence zone sweeping through the region, which, combined with three days of scorching temperatures, created unstable atmospheric conditions ripe for severe storms,” it said.

The centre predicted continued thunderstorms and rainfall across the region due to the approaching Storm Wipha.

The storm entered the South China Sea on Sunday, is gaining strength and is on course to make landfall in Vietnam early next week.

Strong gusts linked to Wipha have knocked down several trees in Hanoi, 175km (110 miles) away from Ha Long Bay, and disrupted air travel in the city.

Noi Bai airport said nine arriving flights were diverted to other airports, and three departing flights were temporarily grounded on Saturday.

Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, with millions of people visiting its blue-green waters and rainforest-topped limestone islands each year.

Last year, 30 vessels sank at boat lock areas in coastal Quang Ninh province along Ha Long Bay after Typhoon Yagi brought strong winds and waves.

Source:

Al Jazeera and news agencies