The 34-man crew of a Vietnamese fishing boat from the central province of Quang Nam reported having their ship rammed and sunk by a Chinese vessel.

Truong Cong Bay, vice-chairman of the People’s Committee in Binh Minh Commune, Thang Binh District, confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday that fishing boat QNa-95959, captained by Pham Phu Thanh, had capsized after being attacked by the Chinese ship.

At around 11:00 pm on Tuesday, the boat, which was carrying 34 crew members, was assaulted while operating in the maritime area near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, some 350 nautical miles northeast of the central city of Da Nang, resulting in the crew’s evacuation from the ship.

Pham Phu Trung, captain of a local fishing boat operating nearby, was notified of the incident at 6:30 am on Wednesday and managed to rescue all of Thanh’s crew by 8:30 am the same day.

According to Bay, the victims were exhausted and are being escorted back to the mainland in Da Nang City.

During a radio conversation Captain Thanh affirmed that he and his crew were attacked by a Chinese vessel but were not able to identify its license number because of the dark, vice-chairman Bay said.

Earlier in March, another fishing boat in Quang Nam was attacked and robbed by a Chinese vessel.     

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