Object found offshore Phu Yen identified as training torpedo

There have been mixed opinions on the Internet about the “unfamiliar object” but “the truth is it is only a torpedo used in training from a foreign country,” said the ministry’s spokesperson Major General Nguyen Van Duc in response to a related question at a press conference on December 27.

It is normal for an object drifting from faraway international waters to near-shore waters, noted Duc who is also head of the Department of Propaganda and Training under the General Political Department of the Vietnam People’s Army.

He added that a training torpedo is completely different from a war-shot one in terms of the materials and colour. Those from militia forces can easily see the difference between a weapon used for training and the real one, he said.

The torpedo, measuring 6.8 metres long and 54 centimetres in diameter, was discovered by a local fisherman, Tran Minh Thanh, off the coast of An Hai commune, Tuy An district in the south central province of Phu Yen on December 18.

With the help of Thanh, it was towed ashore safely by local border guard officers the following day and then transferred to the High Command of the Navy Zone 4 for examination.