Chinese authorities said two people have died and four remain missing after a Singapore-flagged cargo ship carrying 21 Filipino crew members capsized in the South China Sea near the highly contested Scarborough Shoal.
China’s Coast Guard said the vessel overturned about 100 kilometres northwest of the shoal. Contact with the ship was lost on Thursday night as it was travelling toward Guangdong province in southern China.
Rescue efforts involving the Chinese Coast Guard and naval forces under the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command were continuing. The PLA said 15 people had been rescued, with 14 reported in stable condition.
The Philippine Coast Guard said on Friday it dispatched two vessels and aircraft to support the search-and-rescue mission. It identified the cargo ship as the Devon Bay.
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The incident occurred in waters that have seen repeated confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels as both sides press competing claims. Scarborough Shoal is among the most disputed features in the South China Sea and is also claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Tensions in the area have been heightened by frequent close encounters at sea, including an incident in August when a Chinese navy ship accidentally collided with a Chinese Coast Guard vessel while attempting to block a Philippine Coast Guard ship near the shoal.