RP navy suspects piracy, seizes Chinese ship

RP navy suspects piracy, seizes Chinese ship

MANILA (Reuter): The Philippine Navy on Saturday seized a suspected Chinese pirate ship and its 20 crewmen after they tried to ram a navy boat in a gunbattle northwest of Manila, officials said yesterday.

There were no casualties in the second sea clash in three weeks between the Philippine Navy and suspected Chinese vessels off the Subic Bay free port, an area notorious for pirates.

"Definitely this is a foreign ship, possibly Chinese. The crew looks like Chinese," Navy chief Vice-Admiral Pio Carranza told reporters. Their ID cards don't match their ages or their faces. This is a suspected pirate ship."

Two navy patrol ships and a gunboat engaged the intruding vessel, driving it back to land with a heavy barrage of gunfire when it tried to flee to the high seas, Carranza said.

Capt. Ernesto de Leon, who commanded the navy force, personally briefed President Fidel Ramos on the incident, underlining the importance Manila was attaching to the incident.

Ramos abruptly ended the briefing after de Leon said his crew seized many documents aboard, including a seaman's book bearing the "red star".

"You continue the investigation," Ramos said, cutting short the officer's account.

In the first incident on Jan. 22, a Philippine Navy craft and a suspected Chinese vessel exchanged shots in a 90-minute encounter that ended when the Philippine boat ran out of fuel.

The navy later said it believed the foreign vessel had sunk. Its identity has not been clearly established but the navy later said it was probably a Chinese pirate boat. China denied its ships were involved in that incident.

Saturday's clash erupted after the foreign vessel ignored warnings from a navy boat. It later tried to ram the navy boat and opened fire on it, de Leon told President Ramos.

"They were using rifles, AK-47s most likely, sir," he said.

The navy would not say if arms were found aboard the ship but Carranza said its crew were seen throwing items overboard before they were captured.

At the height of the clash, the crewmen raised a Philippine flag "but it was inverted", de Leon said.

The navy allowed journalists to go near the captured boat as it lay under heavy guard at navy headquarters in Manila Bay but the crewmen refused to answer questions shouted at them.

The vessel had sleeker lines than a cargo ship but was covered almost entirely in rust. The numbers "4467" were barely visible through the rust on the hull.

The crew, facing charges of illegal intrusion, squatted on the main deck, using chopsticks and plastic spoons to scoop up rice and noodles from plastic bowls. Navy men, some with guns, stood a few meters away from them as they ate meals.

They grinned when asked if they came from China.

The crew is facing charges of illegal intrusion but the navy chief did not rule out other charges being filed.

Navy officers said a patrol first spotted the vessel about five miles from the entrance to Subic Bay, a former U.S. naval base converted into an export zone and free port.