(Eagle News)–Senator Richard Gordon said the crew of the Chinese vessel who left 22 Filipino fishermen after the vessel rammed into their Filipino fishing boat which sank committed “acts of inhumanity.”
Gordon said in a statement they also violated the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea or SOLAS and Article 98 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS that “mandate vessels, especially after a collision, to render assistance to the other ship, its crew and its passengers, and where possible, to inform the other ship of the name of his own ship, its port of registry and the nearest port at which it will call. ”
“..They should answer for it,” Gordon said.
Gordon also urged the Philippine Coast Guard to “always be in position in that area.”
He said “we must have Coast Guard assets there to protect our fishermen.”
The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest in connection with the incident on June 9.
The Chinese embassy, for its its part, denied a hit-and-run had taken place, saying the Chinese vessel that hit the Filipino boat only left after seeing to it other Filipino boats in the area were rescuing the 22 Filipino fishermen.
It added the Chinese vessel was also “besieged” by seven or eight Filipino fishing boats while the vessel was “at berth” in the area.
