A man known as Trong, onwner of a fishing boat which was hijacked by a passenger on Friday night

A fishing boat captain from the south coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau died of knife wounds on Friday night after swimming away from his boat to escape a violent passenger bent on commandeering the vessel.

Rop and the other deckhand jumped into the water and shouted for Quan to follow them, which the 56-year-old father managed to do after sustaining two deep cuts to the arm and back of his neck.

The three were saved half an hour later by a fishing boat but Quan succumbed to his injuries two hours after his rescue, at around 11 p.m.

After seizing the boat, Loc turned off the lights and fled the scene, but the boat caught fire an hour and a half later.

A dozen fishing boats rushed in vain to save the burning vessel, and only managed to catch Loc six hours after his attack.

Trong, owner of the boat in question, says Loc was a sailor on another boat who had asked to go back to the mainland after several days offshore, so the captain of that boat had asked Quan to give him a lift.

Loc spent three days on Quan’s boat before the incident, which Trong surmises might have been prompted by a conflict with a strange crew.

The killer from Quang Ngai will be handed over to Ba Ria-Vung Tau police on Sunday.

Reported by Nguyen Long