MANILA: The crew of a Chinese trawler that sank a Philippine fishing boat last month could have avoided a collision but failed to do so, and then fled instead of plucking the boat’s men out of the water, a state-appointed probe team has concluded.
A 14-page report sent to President Rodrigo Duterte by the Philippine Coast Guard and the Maritime Industry Authority confirmed accounts that at midnight on June 9, the Yuemaobinyu 42212, a steel-hulled trawler from Guangdong province, struck the stern of the Gem-Ver, a wooden outrigger fishing boat that had dropped anchor in disputed waters in the South China Sea. The Gem-Ver sank.