The collision occurred because the coast guard was escorting a provide mission to sailors on a ship ashore at Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) mentioned one in all its boats suffered “minor structural injury” as Chinese language vessels tried to dam a provide mission within the South China Sea, within the newest conflict within the disputed waters.
Jay Tarriela, the PCG spokesman, mentioned the incident occurred early Tuesday morning close to Second Thomas Shoal the place a small group of sailors have been aboard the warship Sierra Madre because it was grounded nearly 25 years in the past.
He shared movies and pictures on X displaying a Chinese language ship slicing off the bow of the Philippine provide ship and the crew speeding to drop a buoy between the ships.
PCG ships accompanied the provision boats.
“The PCG ships have confronted harmful maneuvers and the blockade by the ships of the Chinese language Coast Guard and the Chinese language Maritime Militia,” Tarriela wrote on the social media platform, including that the provision mission continues.
“Their reckless and unlawful actions led to a collision between MRRV-4407 and China Coast Guard 21555 which resulted in minor structural injury to the PCG vessel.”
China's Coast Guard mentioned it had taken “regulatory actions” in opposition to Philippine ships within the space, accusing them of getting into “unlawful” waters.
this morning, @guardacosta ships, BRP CABRA and BRP SINDANGAN, have been deployed by the Commander, CG Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, to assist the Rotation and Reprovisioning Operation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Through the operation, the PCG ships confronted harmful… pic.twitter.com/WsjnMnGSEk
— Jay Tarriela (@jaytaryela) March 5, 2024
Tensions within the South China Sea have risen over the previous yr with Manila accusing Beijing of taking harmful actions in opposition to its boats and internet hosting a number of diplomatic protests.
Second Thomas Shoal, referred to as Anyungin Shoal by the Philippines and Ren'ai Jiao by China, is positioned about 200 km (124 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and greater than 1,000 km from the island of southern Hainan, China.
The Philippines is one in all a number of Southeast Asian international locations that declare components of the South China Sea, whereas Beijing claims the waters nearly fully.
In 2012, China took management of Scarborough Shoal after a months-long dispute, and the Philippines took its case to the Everlasting Court docket of Arbitration in The Hague, which discovered that China's claims didn’t not a authorized foundation.
Beijing ignored the choice.
