Blasts heard near Thitu Island after Chinese vessel ‘forcefully’ takes rocket debris from Philippine boat

File photo from August 2022 shows Philippine Coast Guard personnel carrying debris, which the Philippine Space Agency said has markings of the Long March 5B Chinese rocket that was launched on July 24, in waters off Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro province, Philippines. - AP

MANILA (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Residents of the Philippines-occupied Thitu Island, part of the disputed Spratlys archipelago in the South China Sea, said they heard blasts after a maritime encounter between the Philippine Navy and the China Coast Guard.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that police believe the loud blasts, heard between 11.30am and 3pm on Sunday (Nov 20), allegedly came from “artillery guns/weapons” from the nearby Subi Reef, one of the biggest artificial islands built by Beijing in the Spratlys. Military officials are verifying the source of the blasts.