China fishing boat capsizes in scuffle; 1 dead

Author: 
HYUNG-JIN KIM | AP
Publication Date: 
Sat, 2010-12-18 20:00

About 50 Chinese fishing boats were illegally fishing in western South Korean waters off Gunsan city, about 270 kilometers south of Seoul, when the South Korean ship approached them, coast guard spokesman Ji Kwan-tae said. One of the boats intentionally hit the larger coast guard ship to allow fellow Chinese vessels to sail back to their waters, and then capsized, he said.
Eight people from the capsized boat were plucked from the sea, but one was unconscious and later died at a Gunsan hospital, the coast guard said in a statement. Coast guard boats and helicopters were dispatched to the area to locate the two missing Chinese sailors, it said.
Coast guard officers fought with fishermen on other Chinese boats who wielded steel pipes, shovels and clubs, and four of the officers suffered fractured arms and other injuries, the statement said. None of the injuries were life-threatening, Ji said.
Chinese fishing fleets have been going farther afield to feed growing domestic demand. A collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese coast guard vessels in September led to a nasty diplomatic spat between the two countries over disputed islands in the East China Sea. The incident soured what had been improving relations between China and Japan.
More than 300 Chinese fishing boats are captured for fishing illegally in South Korean waters every year, according to South Korea’s coast guard. In 2008, one South Korean coast guard officer was killed and six others injured in a maritime scuffle with Chinese fishermen fishing in South Korean waters.
A senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official expressed regret over the death of the Chinese fisherman in a phone call to the Chinese consul general in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.

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