China seizes Vietnamese ship with 6 fishermen off Hoang Sa

Fishing boats of the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai are seen in this file photo. The fishing boat seized was vessel QNg 94912 TS, owned by Vo Dat, a fisherman in Pho Thanh Commune of Duc Pho District, Phan Hien, the head of the communal Fisheries Association, said on Friday morning.

The communal People’s Committee said it reported the seizure to the district and provincial authorities on Thursday afternoon for instructions, said Nguyen Ky, chairman of the committee.

At 8:00 am yesterday, while the ship, along with another local vessel (QNg 94913), was operating in the Vietnamese waters around the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, many Chinese ships including fisheries law enforcement command vessel #3103, appeared and surrounded them.

They seized vessel QNg 94912 TS along with the six fishermen on board including captain Vo Tan Teo and towed it away.

At that time, a Vietnamese fisherman, Huynh Kim Co, who was on board his boat operating nearby witnessed the seizure. He used his ICOM walkie-talkie to report the incident to Dat’s family and local authorities.

The seizure occurred amid the increased tension in the East Vietnam Sea after Beijing illegally dispatched its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 to the Vietnamese waters near Hoang Sa in early May, despite strong protests from Hanoi. 

China has also deployed more than 100 vessels, including military ships, to the area to guard the drilling platform and these vessels have often rammed or fired their water cannons at the Vietnamese ships there.

Such attacks have so far injured 15 fisheries surveillance and Coast Guard officers as well as four fishermen.

Chinese vessels even crashed into and sank a fishing ship of central Da Nang City on May 26, leaving behind 10 fishermen drifting at sea before they were saved by another Vietnamese vessel.