China and the Philippines reportedly dispatched rescue operations for a foreign cargo ship with 21 Philippine crew members on board, which had capsized near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, with two crew members dead and 17 rescued.
The Chinese military reported at approximately 1:30 AM on January 23rd that a foreign cargo vessel was sinking near a shoal. In response, they dispatched aircraft to conduct search operations, while the Chinese Coast Guard sent two vessels to assist with rescue efforts.
Additionally, they informed the media that one person was receiving emergency medical treatment. China’s maritime authorities also arranged for further rescue forces to proceed to the scene.
The Philippine Coast Guard, for its part, dispatched two vessels and two aircraft to rescue the Philippine crew of a Singapore-flagged cargo vessel carrying iron ore heading to the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang.
“The PCG Command Centre received information from the Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre that 10 of the 21 Filipino crew members had been rescued by a passing China Coast Guard vessel,” it said.
A Scarborough Shoal is one of Asia’s most disputed maritime features and a hotspot for sovereignty and fishing rights disputes.
The Chinese military announced that it had deployed naval and air force units to “expel” a Philippine government aircraft that it said had “illegally intruded” into airspace over the atoll.
The South China Sea is almost entirely claimed by China, which overlaps the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Despite the mishap, tensions remained at the disputed area, as the Philippines and the United States conducted a joint maritime sail in the South China Sea, underscoring growing military cooperation between the two treaty allies.
The joint sail involved coordinated manoeuvres aimed at improving interoperability and operational coordination between the armed forces. It also marked the 11th maritime cooperative activity conducted by the two allies since November 2023, reflecting the increasing frequency of their joint engagements. Meanwhile, China remains determined in its efforts to deny the Philippines’ claim on the area as its exclusive economic zone.