The Philippines said three fishermen died after their ship collided with a ‘foreign’ ship in the East Sea
The Philippines is investigating the deaths of three Filipino fishermen who died in a collision with a “foreign” ship in the South China Sea, the country’s authorities announced on Wednesday.
Philippine fishing boat FFB Dearyn was attacked around 4pm
The Philippine Coast Guard quoted a crew member as saying that around 8 p.m.
Monday night near Scarborough Shoal.
The Coast Guard said 11 crew members survived the accident and used their own service boat to reach the mainland Tuesday morning, transporting those who died – including the captain – to Pangasinan province in northern Luzon, the country’s largest island.
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“We assure the victims, their families and everyone that we will do everything possible to hold accountable those responsible for this unfortunate maritime incident,” Mr.
Marcos said.
He also asked all parties to “refrain from speculation” while the investigation is ongoing.
In an update Wednesday, the Coast Guard said it would contact a Marshall Islands-registered oil tanker that may have been in the area at the time of the incident, based on ship traffic data and stories from survivors.
According to information gathered by authorities, the tanker came from South Korea and was headed to Singapore, Rear Admiral Armand Balilo told CNN Philippines affiliate CNN in a television interview.
Balilo said the tanker was in the area at the time of the collision and authorities were still gathering evidence.
The South China Sea is a 1.3 million square kilometer waterway vital to international trade, with an estimated one-third of billions of dollars worth of global shipping passing through it each year.
This means giant container ships and oil tankers regularly pass through the area.
The sea is also home to large, fertile fishing grounds, home to many people and whose livelihoods depend on it, often using much smaller vessels.
John Bradford
Indonesia researcher on international affairs for the Council on Foreign Relations, said up to 85% of all maritime accidents are the result of maritime hazards and illegal activities.
Poorly managed trade continues to pose risks to shipping operations and compromise environmental safety.
Such incidents are particularly common in Southeast Asia, where crews are often mistreated and lack training, he added, citing the Singapore Information Integration Centre, which counted 1,882 deaths or deaths.
missing at sea in the first half of 2023.
“Sometimes crashes, even fatal ones, go unreported due to lack of trust in authorities or fear of prosecution for the crash or other activities.
This speaks to the issue of overall governance,” Bradford said.
The South China Sea is also a major maritime hotspot.
In addition to China and Southeast Asian countries
several governments have claimed sovereignty over some areas of the sea, with Beijing claiming ownership of nearly the entire waterway, despite the ruling.
of the international court.
Over the past two decades, China has occupied several reefs and atolls far from its coast in the South China Sea, building military facilities including airstrips and ports.
Scarborough Shoal, known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines and Huangyan Island in China, is a small but strategic coral reef and fishing area located 200 km west of Luzon, which has been the cause of main tensions between Manila and Beijing.
Richard Heydarian
/ an international relations lecturer at the Asia Center of the University of the Philippines, said that although this incident was not directly related to China, the territorial dispute may have had an indirect effect.
“The reality is that China is structurally responsible for what is happening due to its intimidation and various measures used to prevent Filipino fishermen from accessing their traditional fishing grounds.
What is happening here is that [Filipino fishermen] are increasingly being pushed out to sea,” Heydarian said.
China’s Foreign Ministry defended the behavior of its ships in the waterway and said Beijing would “firmly defend” what it considers its territorial sovereignty.
The area has been the scene of increasingly frequent clashes pitting Philippine vessels and small wooden fishing boats against much larger Chinese coast guard vessels and what Manila says are trawlers.
the shadow of the “Chinese maritime militia”.
In 2016, an international court in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a historic maritime dispute, concluding that China had no legal basis to claim historic rights to most of the Sea.
Winter.Manila said Beijing ignored the decision.
