PCG says Chinese-flagged cargo ship rammed PH boat in WPS

Filipino fishing banca Ruel J capsized off the waters of Paluan, Occidental Mindoro. (Photo from the Philippine Coast Guard)

MANILA, Philippines — The cargo ship that hit a stationary Filipino boat in the West Philippine Sea was identified to be from China, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Thursday.

“Under the flag of China,” the PCG told reporters in a Viber message when asked about  MV Tai Hang 8’s flag of origin.

READ: Fishing boat hit by cargo ship off Occidental Mindoro — PCG

Marinetraffic.com, a website with access to data from land-based automatic identification systems, also indicated that the MV Tai Hang 8 is under the Chinese flag.

Captain Edyson Abanilla, a Coast Guard Station commander in Oriental Mindoro, told radio DWPM that the incident occurred between the waters of Occidental Mindoro and Palawan, which is a “nautical highway”, but it is already part of the West Philippine Sea.

Filipino fishing boat Ruel J was moored to a fishing aggregation device when it had an alleged allision with bulk carrier MV Tai Hang 8 on Tuesday afternoon.

A maritime incident is described as allision — as opposed to collision — when a vessel runs over a stationary boat.

/abc