DA NANG CITY, Vietnam, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Nguyen Van Xinh, a lucky Vietnamese fisherman who survived the monster typhoon Chanchu can hardly get rid of the bad memory of fishing ships in the deep of sea with floating dead bodies.

    Nguyen Van Xinh was taken home on a rescue ship along with the body of his younger brother after a week of struggling in the jaws of death.

    "While at Dongsha Islands with some 20 other fishing ships, we were suddenly hit by Typhoon Chanchu on May 17. One ship smashed into cliffs due to strong waves, and eight other sank. After the typhoon faded away, we searched for unlucky fellows. We picked up my younger brother Hoa's body, and carried seven other dead bodies. Other ships found and carried four alive fishermen," Xinh, 41-year-old captain of a ship from central Da Nang city, told Xinhua on Wednesday at his younger brother's funeral.

    On the way ashore, the ship coded DNA90189 met with China's rescue ship Nanhaijiu 111 on May 19.

    "The Chinese ship pumped several hundreds of liters of diesel oil into our ship, and gave us some items including one barrel of canned dried fish, a small amount of medicines, and two bottles of liquid antiseptic," recalled the man with a weather-beaten face and dark complexion from the Group No. 26, Thanh Khe district, Da Nang.

    The Chinese rescue ship offered rice to Xinh's ship, but the captain refused to receive it because "at that time, we had enough rice to go home."

    "Chanchu is a killer typhoon and killed many people. The bodies smelt badly. My elder brother with his own ship and I returned home alive, but my ill-fated younger brother did not," Xinh said with his eyes being dry, but covered with a gloomy cloud.

    Also at Hoa's funeral, Xinh's elder brother named Pham Van Tham said that, after his ship DNA 95101 and some 20 other Vietnamese fishing ships were stricken by Typhoon Chanchu, he saw a Chinese ship meeting one of the fishing ships and supplying fuel and other things to them.

    A Taiwanese helicopter and a Taiwanese canoe approaching the local ships. "The Taiwanese helicopter and canoe signaled us to go away from the site of incident, as we were sailing near a military base," said the 43-year-old chubby man with grey short hair and beard.

    "After meeting with a Vietnamese rescue ship, Xinh and I embarked the ship to send ashore my ill-fated younger brother (Hoa). He was 35 years old. How can his wife, a housewife, bring up two little children, including an 11-month-old boy?" he asked quietly as if he asked himself.