Authorities have yet to disclose details about the tourists or their nationalities.
One of the rescued, a 10-year-old boy, told state media outlet VietnamNet: “I took a deep breath, swam through a gap, dived then swam up, I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat with soldiers on”.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences on Saturday to the families of the deceased and called on the defence and public security ministries to conduct urgent search and rescue.
Authorities would “investigate and clarify the cause of the incident and strictly handle violations”, a government statement said.
CNA has contacted Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out if any Singaporeans were on board the tourist boat.
Tran Trong Hung, a resident in the Ha Long Bay area, told AFP: “The sky turned dark at around 2pm.”
There were “hailstones as big as toes with torrential rain, thunderstorm and lightning”, he said.
Torrential rain also lashed northern Hanoi, Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces on Saturday.
Several trees were knocked down in the capital by strong winds.
The storm followed three days of intense heat, with the mercury hitting 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.
Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting, was quoted in VNExpress as saying that the thunderstorms in northern Vietnam were not caused by the influence of Tropical Storm Wipha in the South China Sea.
Wipha entered the South China Sea on Sunday gaining strength, and is on course to make landfall in Vietnam early next week.
Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, with millions of people visiting its blue-green waters and rainforest-topped limestone islands each year.
Last year, 30 vessels sank at boat lock areas in coastal Quang Ninh province along Ha Long Bay after Typhoon Yagi brought strong wind and waves.
And this month, a ferry sank off the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali, killing at least 18 people.
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