© channelnewsasia.com
Brilio.net/en - Argentinian coastguards sank a Chinese fishing vessel, on Tuesday, March 15th, after an exchange of fire in the Pacific South, in the middle of the Argentinian territorial waters.
The report from the Argentinian navy indicates that the Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 (the Chinese boats name), was caught fishing without authorization off the coast of Puerto Madryn, 1300km south of Buenos Aires, in an economic zone strictly exclusive of Argentina.
The Argentinian authorities confirmed that the coastguards tried to communicate with the vessel unsuccessfully: they first sent the required summons, both in English and Spanish before they started shooting on the boats hull.
The captain of the boat didnt shut down the motors at the required time, he did it only at the point when the boat started to sink, right on time for the crew to leave the vessel., according to the Argentinian version of the facts. The crews members of the Chinese vessel were all rescued on time. The captain of the ship on the other hand, will be brought to justice and be tried for his acts in front of an Argentinian magistrate.
The incident occurred very close to the Patagonia region, nearby the highly touristic zone of Peninsula de Valds. Some associations already fear about the negative consequences on the local eco-environment of the ship sinking in the ocean.
Two other Chinese fishing vessels have been spotted by the Argentinian authorities lately but have already left as of todays date. This is not the first time that this kind of incident happens, the Chinese commercial fleet already got in trouble with Argentina for fishing without authorisation many times in the past. Last February, another boat had been attacked under the same conditions (for illegally fishing calamaris) but this time it ended in the sinking of a boat is extremely rare.
For now, the Chinese Government has remained pretty quiet about the whole story and only declared that it was waiting for more information from Argentina.
(brl/red)
