Three Filipino fishermen have died after an “unidentified commercial vessel” allegedly rammed their fishing boat near Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine coast guard said Wednesday, compounding tensions in a region of the disputed South China Sea that is already a flashpoint.
The Philippine coast guard said it was working to confirm what type of vessel was involved in the incident but added the boat that caused the collision was “foreign”.
The maritime collision occurred around 4:20 a.m. on Monday, a crew member of FFB Dearyn, the Philippine vessel that was struck, told authorities, according to a coast guard statement.
The South China Sea is a 1.3 million-square-mile waterway that is vital to international trade, with an estimated third of global shipping worth trillions of dollars passing through each year.
Bracketed by China and several Southeast Asian nations, parts of the sea are claimed by multiple governments, with Beijing asserting ownership over almost all of the waterway, in defiance of an international court ruling.
Scarborough shoal, known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines and Huangyan Island in China – is a small but strategic reef and fishing ground 130 miles (200 kilometers) west of Luzon that has been a flashpoint for tensions between Manila and Beijing.
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