A crew member from the Vietnamese fishing boat was photographed upon its arrival at Sa Ky port, Quang Ngai province, on September 30, 2024 (Facebook: Ba Vuong Phung)
2 October 2024
Chinese personnel reportedly boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, assaulting the crew with iron bars and seriously injuring four members, according to a Vietnamese official. The incident followed a pursuit by Chinese vessels in the disputed waters, which are claimed by both nations.
The boat’s captain, Nguyen Thanh Bien, told the Tien Phong news site that two ships, identified by hull numbers 101 and 301, chased his vessel on Sunday. He said three smaller boats were deployed to trap his boat in a pincer formation, allowing men in camouflage to board and attack the crew.
“I tried to run towards the bow of the ship. However, two people held me and attacked me so hard that I lost consciousness,” he said. “I woke up about an hour later.”
On Sunday afternoon, Bien radioed the Vietnamese border guard, reporting that several crew members had suffered broken arms and legs while others had sustained unspecified injuries.
Phung Ba Vuong, the chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Chau Commune in Quang Ngai province, posted on Facebook that “more than 30 armed individuals” from Chinese vessels boarded the Vietnamese boat and brutally assaulted its crew.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands, which it refers to as the Xisha Islands. Vietnam, on the other hand, calls the archipelago the Hoang Sa.
Crewman Huynh Tien Cong, seen in the photo, told Tien Phong that the attackers struck him and other crew members with steel bars, each about a meter long, breaking his arms and legs.
“They attacked relentlessly, we didn’t know where they were attacking, we didn’t dare to resist, we just lay there and endured the beating,” Cong said.
“When they finished, they forced the remaining fishermen to the bow of the ship, forcing them to hold their heads with their hands and kneel down, then used the tarpaulin to cover the
