4 Philippines crew hurt, vessels damaged by China ships

MANILA, Philippines — Within hours of each other, two incidents of “blocking maneuver” and water cannon attack by China Coast Guard (CCG) and militia vessels erupted yesterday in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal, leaving four Filipinos injured and two Philippine vessels slightly damaged.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman for West Philippine Sea affairs Commodore Jay Tarriela said the BRP Sindangan was supporting a resupply mission for troops on the BRP Sierra Madre at 6:30 a.m. yesterday when a CCG ship with bow number 21555 tried to block it, resulting in a slight collision.

In a post on X, Tarriela said the collision was caused by the “reckless and illegal action” of the CCG vessel.

Two hours later at 8:15 a.m., the same Chinese coast guard ship and another with bow number 21551 blasted Philippine resupply boat Unaizah May 4 with water cannons.

In a statement, the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) said CCG and militia vessels “harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons and executed dangerous maneuvers in another attempt to illegally impede or obstruct a routine RORE (rotation and resupply) mission to BRP Sierra Madre (LS 57) at Ayungin Shoal.”

In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry said the Filipino vessels were to blame for the incidents.

“There is no such situation of China harassing the Philippines,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.

“The reason behind the recent maritime developments is that the Philippines has frequently made provocative moves in the South China Sea, infringing on China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” she said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), meanwhile, summoned Chinese embassy deputy chief of mission Zhou Zhiyong to relay Manila’s protest.

With the Sindangan during the resupply mission was BRP Cabra. They were deployed on orders of PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan to provide support to the RORE operation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Tarriela said.

“Throughout the operation, the PCG vessels faced dangerous maneuvers and blocking from Chinese Coast Guard vessels and Chinese maritime militia,” said Tarriela.

“Their reckless and illegal