A fisherman in central Da Nang City on Wednesday provided the local TV station with a video clip showing a Chinese vessel ramming and sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in Vietnam’s waters on May 26. 

>> Chinese vessels nearly sink Vietnamese fishing boat in Vietnam’s waters >> Chinese vessel rams, breaks Vietnamese ship in Vietnam’s waters>> Vietnam lifts ship sunk by Chinese vessel attack>> U.S. Senator says it’s unacceptable to ram, sink Vietnamese fishing boat The cruel attack was carried out when the local vessel, DNa 90152, with ten crew members on board, was operating in an area in Vietnamese waters, about 17 nautical miles south-southwest of the location of China’s drilling rig Haiyang Shiyou 981, which has been in Vietnamese waters illegally since May 1. At about 4:00 pm that day, two huge ironclad Chinese fishing boats appeared in the waters and sped toward the small vessel, which responded by attempting to escape. However, Chinese vessel #11209 got close enough to DNa 90152 to crash into it from behind.

The  clip showing a Chinese vessel ramming and sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat on May 26, 2014

Despite the hard hit, the local ship continued its escape attempt. However, the foreign vessel rammed it a second time, thwarting its efforts. The DNa 90152 capsized and quickly sank, throwing eight of its crew members into the sea. At the time, two other fishermen remained in the cabin. Luckily, the trapped fishermen managed to exit the cabin from glass windows that had broken during the attack.

The Chinese vessels left the scene after committing the crime. The Vietnamese fishermen clung to a thúng chai, a round boat made from bamboo mesh, which had fallen from their fishing boat into the sea.

About 20 minutes later, another Vietnamese ship, also from Da Nang, found the victims and saved all of them. Later, a Vietnamese fisheries surveillance boat received the ten fishermen and returned to Da Nang on May 29. The sunken boat was towed by a tugboat to a port in Da Nang. The boat was lifted from the water on June 1, sustaining heavy damage. All of the equipment was out of order, including an internal communications system (Icom), a global positioning system (GPS), and a fish finder. The deck of the boat and personal belongings of the crew members were covered in mud.

The ceiling of the boat completely collapsed and a large hole is in the side of the boat, near the cabin.

The hole is as wide as the circumference of a human body and permeated all 10 cm of the wall of the boat. “The attack is an intentional act that was aimed at killing Vietnamese fishermen,” Nguyen Van Sy, deputy chairman of the Bac My An lifting, repair, and building cooperative at Tho Quang port in Da Nang, where the ship was lifted from the sea.

After two relocations since May 1, the Chinese rig is now located at 15°33’22’’ North latitude and 111°34’23’’ East longitude, still in Vietnamese waters.

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