A Chinese ship went aground in bad weather in shallow waters off a Philippine-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, forcing Filipino soldiers to be on alert, according to a report by Taipei Times.
When Philippine forces determined that the Chinese fishing vessel had run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island due to bad weather on Saturday, they deployed military and coast guard personnel to assist, but later discovered that the ship had been extricated, according to Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado, as reported by the Taipei Times.
Collado noted that no more information was immediately available, such as whether any crew members were injured or the ship was damaged. In recent years, confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval ships in the disputed waters have increased, according to the Taipei Times.
“The alertness of our troops is always there,” Philippine Armed Forces Public Affairs Office chief Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said. When they saw that a probable incident had happened, “we tried to assist professionals” following international law on helping distressed vessels at sea, he said. “We’re always following international law,” Trinidad said, as quoted by the Taipei Times report.
According to MP Albayda, a local Philippine official, villagers in a fishing village on Thitu, known as Pag-asa Island, immediately notified the Philippine military and coast guard after seeing the Chinese ship lying in the shallows about 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 kilometres) from their village.
“They got worried because the Chinese were so close, but it was the strong wind and waves that caused the ship to run aground,” Albayda added, adding that other Chinese ships towed the stranded vessel away. The stricken ship resembled what the Philippine military had repeatedly described as suspected Chinese militia ships that had aided the Chinese coast guard and navy in blocking and harassing Philippine coast guard and military vessels in the disputed waters, a busy conduit for global trade and commerce, according to the Taipei Times report.
