It is impossible to say whether the three siblings are lucky or not, because like them, there are some people within a family returning home on Tuesday, but unlike them, others have slim hope of finding their relatives on the sea.

    "Four people, two of my brothers and two of my nephews, arrived home safely after one month and a half going to the far sea to catch cuttlefish. They told me that my son is still healthy far away on the sea. He is going ashore along with others later," said a woman named Le Thi Cu from the Thanh Khe district.

    While Cu gladly said she would meet her 34-year-old son by Wednesday night or Thursday morning, a poorly-built former fisherman from the district said he had no hope of seeing his 21-year-old son again since there has been no news about him for 11 days.

    "Besides my son, my younger brother was on the missing ship. My brother cooks rice on the ship. I am waiting for them in vain. If they were swept away to an island of China or the Philippines, I would already be informed by relevant agencies," the former fisherman named Phan Van Cu made a hopeless gesture while his emotionless eyes landed somewhere outside the door of his poorly-equipped house.

    A navy ship carrying three dead bodies of local fishermen and 19 fishing ships from Da Nang with a total of some 460 people on board are expected to go ashore on Thursday, Nguyen Van Cu, deputy head of the Da Nang-based Border Post No. 248, told Xinhua on Wednesday, noting that two Vietnamese rescue ships brought ashore 15 bodies and 33 alive fishermen on Tuesday.

    "According to our sources, a total of 29 ships from Da Nang went to the far sea to catch cuttlefish. After being hit by Typhoon Chanchu in Chinese waters, seven ships sank, and three others went missing. Over 200 people have either died or gone missing. The chance for their survival is slim," Cu said.

    "I am not at the site of incident, but according to different sources, I know that Chinese ships have participated in rescuing our fishermen and supplied our ships with oil and some necessary items. For example, food, foodstuffs and formaldehyde to preserve dead bodies and prevent bad odor from spreading," he noted.

    Chanchu, which means "pearl," formed in the Pacific, about 550 km east of Mindanao island in the Philippines on May 9. It hit the central Philippines, then headed to central Vietnam, but suddenly changed its direction to southern China, killing dozens of people and affecting thousands of others from the three countries. Enditem