The collision incident involving a Chinese vessel and a Filipino fishing boat was not intentional, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said in a statement.
The incident occurred on Sunday (Manila time) off Reed Bank and left the Filipino vessel, with 22 fishermen onboard, badly damaged.
A preliminary investigation, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said, showed that on June 9, Yuemaobinyu 42212, a Chinese fishing boat from Guangdong province, was fishing off Reed Bank – a potentially oil and gas rich area within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone – when it was swarmed by “7 or 8 Filipino fishing boats.”
“During evacuation, 42212 failed to shun a Filipino fishing boat, and its steel cable on the lighting grid of larboard bumped into the Filipino pilothouse. The Filipino fishing boat tilted and its stern foundered,” the embassy statement said.
“The Chinese captain tried to rescue the Filipino fishermen, but was afraid of being besieged by other Filipino fishing boats,” it added.
The Chinese embassy said the personnel onboard the Chinese vessel only left the area after they confirmed that the Filipino fishermen were rescued by other Filipino fishing boats.
“The above shows that there is no such thing as ‘hit-and-run,'” the embassy said.
However, the message posted by the Chinese Embassy in Manila was deleted early Saturday morning.
Earlier, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Captain Armand Balilo said the Philippine government is verifying the vessel that hit the Filipino fishing boat after receiving reports that said the vessel was Vietnamese.
He said he will have to interview the captain of the Filipino vessel, FB Gimber1.
He added that a similar incident involving a Chinese vessel that sank a Philippine fishing boat occurred in Zambales in 2013. It was concluded that the collision was not deliberate on the part of the Chinese.
