The captain of the Vietnamese ship yesterday corroborated the story of the 22 Filipino fishermen who were rescued near Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea after their boat was hit by a Chinese vessel on June 9. In a report in the Saigon Times, Nguyen Thant Tam, skipper of the Vietnamese ship TGTG-90983-TS, said he saw the Filipino fishermen soaking wet and shivering and realized that “they might have had an accident at sea.” At first, he said, he feared that the fishermen were pirates but as the men continued waving their hands, he realized that they were asking for help.

Lee-Brago, P. (2019, June 20). Vietnam skipper narrates rescue. The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 4.