This image taken on September 28, 2023 shows an aerial perspective of Chinese coast guard ships anchored inside of the lagoon of the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal for the duration of a maritime surveillance flight by the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Sources above disputed waters of the South China Sea.
Ted Aljibe | Afp | Getty Images
The Philippines is investigating a maritime incident to discover out what killed 3 Filipino fishermen in a ramming incident that sank their boat in the South China Sea, its president explained on Wednesday.
“We guarantee the victims, their households, and every person that we will exert each and every hard work to hold accountable those people who are responsible for this unfortunate maritime incident,” Ferdinand Marcos Jr reported on the X social media platform.
A few Filipino fishermen died right after their fishing boat was rammed by an unidentified international commercial vessel though crossing the South China Sea, the Philippine Coastline Guard (PCG) reported on Wednesday.
The incident happened on Monday though the boat was transiting 85 nautical miles (157 km) northwest of the disputed Scarborough Shoal, it said in a assertion. Eleven crew members survived when the boat sank.
“The incident is nevertheless underneath investigation to determine the information and situations surrounding the collision involving the fishing boat and a even now unidentified industrial vessel,” Marcos said.
“Allow us allow the PCG to do its job and look into, and permit us refrain from participating in speculation in the meantime,” he additional, referring to the coast guard.
Tensions about those people waters have just lately flared up immediately after the Philippines said it removed a 300-metre ball-buoy barrier installed by China’s coastguard close to the Scarborough Shoal, a primary fishing spot and a person of Asia’s most contested maritime capabilities.
The strategic shoal, named just after a British cargo vessel that ran aground there in the 18th century, is in the Philippines’ exceptional economic zone but was seized in 2012 by China, which has preserved a frequent existence of coastline guard ships and fishing trawlers there at any time considering that.
China has turned down the Philippines’ version of events over the barrier, even though the United States has weighed in with assist behind Manila and vowed to honour its treaty commitments to defend its treaty ally if attacked.
The Philippine coastguard did not elaborate on the incident or provide information of the vessel it reported had rammed the Filipino crew.