Source:
Pano feedA Vietnamese fishing boat with nine fishermen on board that was a fortnight ago attacked by Chinese vessels in Vietnam’s waters returned to their home province of Quang Ngai in central Vietnam on Friday.The boat, QNg90045, is among a dozen of fishing boats that have been rammed or blasted with water or thrown with stones or other objects by Chinese vessels that are guarding the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 China has illegally placed in Vietnam’s waters since May 1, the Vietnamese Fisheries Surveillence Department reported.
In many cases, Chinese crewmembers also got aboard local ships to beat Vietnamese fishermen and took away fishing equipment and other assets from them, the department said.
In the case of QNg90045, its captain, Vo Ba Nha, 29, said that he and his crewmembers tried their best to escape a three-hour chase by a Chinese ship that had attacked his boat.
At 9 pm on May 16, when the boat was operating in an area about 4 nautical miles from Phu lam Island, part of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, Chinese vessel #306 appeared and approached the local boat, Nha said.
Upon realizing that the vessel attempted to ram his boat, Nha tried to steer it at full speed and in a zig-zag route to avoid being hit, he said.
After an hour of chase, the foreign vessel got close to Nha’s ship and Chinese crewmembers began to throw stones half the size of a fist at the local boat, breaking its cabin window and damaging many equipment on the boat.
The foreign ship then fired its water cannons at Nha’s boat and its crewmembers, and the high-pressure water swept many tools out of the boat to the sea.
Nha still continued to steer ship away from the Chinese ship while the other crewmembers used materials available to hold back the stones and water coming from the foreign vessel.
Nha said that the Chinese ship focused its attack on his cabin, apparently aiming to break down the boat’s engine so that they can seize the vessel and its crewmembers.
Thanks to the determination of protecting the boat by all the crewmembers, the Vietnamese boat could survived the fierce attack by the Chinese side, the captain said.
The Chinese stopped the chase at nearly 12 pm the same day, leaving the local ship tattered in a mess caused by broken glass and tools all over the deck, Nha said.
If the Chinese crew had got aboard the fishing ship, nobody could imagine what would have happened later, the Vietnamese captain emphasized.
After the attack, Nha and his crew temporarily repaired the ship and fishing tools to continue fishing before returning to Tinh Ky fishing port on May 30.
Nha said he and his crew will stay home for a week before continue to go back to the same sea area, as it is their tradititional fishing field in the Vietnamese territorial waters.
Nha’s boat is the third in Binh Chau commune to have been attacked by Chinese vessels, said Nguyen Thanh Hung, deputy chairman of the commune People’s Commitee.
Local authorities will support the fishermen affected by such attacks so that they can continue their fishing activities, Hung said.
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Đăng ký:
VietNam News
>> Chinese ships attack Vietnamese fishing boats 6 times over 19 days >> Chinese ship rams, sinks Vietnamese fishing boat in Vietnam's waters >> 3 Vietnamese injured as China continues assaults on Vietnam ships