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Embassy confirms China boat involved in boat sinking
FILE: SAFE AND SOUND. One of the 22 fishermen of the sunken F/B Gemvir 1 answers questions from the media aboard the Philippine Navy vessel BRP Ramon Alcaraz. The China Embassy has confirmed it is a China-flagged vessel that hit the Filipino fishermen’s boat anchored at Reed Bank in the West Philippine Sea, causing it to sink.
(PNA photo by Joey Razon)
MANILA — The Chinese Embassy in Manila on Friday night said the vessel involved in the boat sinking incident in the West Philippine Sea was indeed China-flagged but denied it was a case of “hit and run.”
The China Embassy, in a statement, identified the Chinese fishing boat as Yuemaobinyu 42212 from Guangdong Province, China. It initially berthed at the vicinity of Reed Bank.
“It was suddenly besieged by 7 or 8 Filipino fishing boats. During the evacuation, 42212 failed to shun a Filipino fishing boat, and its steel cable on the lighting grid of larboard bumped into the Filipino pilothouse,” it said.
“The Filipino fishing boat tilted and its stern foundered. The Chinese captain tried to rescue the Filipino fishermen but was afraid of being besieged by other Filipino fishing boats. Therefore, having confirmed the fishermen from the Filipino boat were rescued on board of other Filipino fishing boats, 42212 sailed away from the scene,” it added.
Referring to their own report, the Embassy said “there is no such thing as hit-and-run.”
Meanwhile, it vowed to properly handle the issue with the Philippines “in a serious and responsible manner,” saying the Chinese side “attaches great importance to China-Philippines friendship and safety of life at sea.”
“The two sides are maintaining close communication through diplomatic channels,” it noted.
On Friday, the 22 fishermen arrived in Occidental Mindoro aboard the Philippine Navy vessel BRP Ramon Alcaraz.
In recalling the night of June 9, F/B GEMVIR1 Captain Junel Insigne, in an interview with ABS-CBN, said they were anchored when a “Chinese boat” hit them.
“Noong pagbangga, akala namin pagbalik niya tutulungan kami, biglang sumindi ‘yong ilaw na marami, dahil nakita kaming lubog na… Ayon, pinatay nila ulit ‘yong ilaw palayo na ulit sa amin (When they hit us, we thought they were going to help us when they came back. Their lights suddenly flickered on, when they saw us sinking…
then they turned off their light and left),” he said.
Insigne said the Chinese should have helped them at least the moment they saw them sinking.
“Umikot lang muna sila, binalikan kami bago sumindi ‘yong ilaw, ‘yong maraming ilaw, noong makita lubog na, pinatay ‘yong ilaw bago umatras papalayo (They circled first then went back to the scene, when they saw that our boat already sank, they turned off their lights before they left),” he narrated.
“Kung wala ‘yong Vietnam baka mamatay na kami doon lahat, mga tatlong oras rin (If the Vietnamese weren’t there we would have drowned to death, we were floating for around three hours),” he added.
