Rescuers in Vietnam were searching on Sunday for people missing since their boat sank off the country's southernmost tip while on a holiday outing as the death toll rose to 38, police said.
The boat, a fishing vessel illegally carrying passengers, developed a leak and began taking on water as it was heading to Hon Khoai island on Friday. Police said the boat's pump had apparently broken down as water poured in.
"We do not have a lot of money but because we love our child, we sent her on the excursion to make her happy," said Cao Van Teo, who lost his teenage daughter, was quoted as saying by the Thanh Nien newspaper.
"But I could never imagine this."
Teenagers and a 5-year-old were among the 38 confirmed dead, a police spokesman said.
The boat was originally thought to have been carrying nearly 200 people but state-run television said on Sunday about 152 were on board. At least 103 had been rescued, police said.
Nineteen of the dead came from Vien An, a commune or cluster of villages in Ca Mau province, near the scene of the disaster. About half of the passengers on the May Day holiday weekend outing came from Vien An, an official said.
A witness in the commune saw weeping relatives of a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl preparing the bodies for burial on Sunday.
The boy had been placed in a coffin, while in a nearby house, the body of the girl lay wrapped in plastic, the witness said.
Among the dead were three teenaged sisters and two teenaged brothers from another family. A mother and her two sons were among those feared dead, the state-run Thanh Nien's (Young People) newspaper said in its online edition.
Many of the boat's passengers were children, most aged between 12 and 15, on a school trip to Hon Khoai island, about 10 miles off Ca Mau Cape, which is well known for marine life.
Some frantic children used mobile phones to call their parents for help as the boat went down, police said. The weather on the day of the accident was clear, as it was on Sunday.
A couple that owns the boat had been detained for questioning. The boat was registered as a fishing vessel and was not allowed to ferry tourists, police said.