By Euan McKirdy, CNN
Da Nang, Vietnam — When fishing in fiercely-contested territorial waters, a certain amount of risk must be assumed. For the crew of Vietnamese fishing boat Dna 90152 TS, the worst-case scenario happened early last week when their ship was capsized by what they insist was a Chinese military vessel.
The captain, crew and owner of Dna 90152 TS in Da Nang on May 31. (CNN)
The ship’s captain, Dang Van Nhan, told CNN via an interpreter that on May 26, he and his crew were sailing in Vietnamese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters, around 17 nautical miles (NM) from a Chinese oil rig near the Paracel Islands. The islands in the South China Sea have become the centerpiece in a territorial row between China and Vietnam.
The crew was working their wooden fishing boat around 4 p.m. when they noticed a vessel steaming towards their ship.
“After this, we ran away. They crashed into our right side and then the left. Then our boat turned over. All ten crew members had to swim. After this, we were rescued by (sister ship) Dna 90508. We swam for around ten minutes.”
The fishermen’s report is at odds with the Chinese version of events. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, the Vietnamese vessel had been “harassing” a Chinese fishing boat in waters near the Paracel Islands, a largely uninhabited archipelago also known by the Chinese as the Xisha Islands. The Xinhua report said the ship overturned after it “jostled” a Chinese fishing boat.
Lucky escape
Dang counts his blessings that the other Vietnamese fishing boat was nearby and able to rescue him and his crew.
“We are very lucky that the crash happened during the daytime. We were lucky that some friends could see us.”
The incident, from first collision to the abandonment of the vessel took only four minutes, Dang says. The crew didn’t even have time to don life jackets.
Two of his crew suffered minor injuries including Ngyuen Huynh Ba Bian, who suffered abrasions on his leg, shoulder and chest, as well as a cut near his right eye.
“The Chinese ship(s) made no attempt to rescue our crew,” Dang said. “We saw a lot of Chinese ships — only one was used to ram us, but there were lots around. Despite the sinking, none of the Chinese ships acted (to rescue the crew).”
The boat, which was valued at 5 billion Vietnamese Dong ($237,000), remains scuttled in the seas around the Paracel Islands. Because of superstition, the boat is unlikely to be salvaged and used again, says its owner, Huynh Thi Nhu Hoa.
The boat had fished these waters for years before the recent controversy arose, Ngyuen said. He said that isolated incidents had occurred between ships from the two sides for several years, but since the oil rig had been installed, the number of attacks has escalated sharply.
Read the full story by Euan McKirdy from CNN.
