THE captain of a Chinese research vessel which sank in a collision with a tanker north of Taiwan has accused the tanker's master of refusing to send lifeboats to pick up survivors, escalating the dispute over responsibility in the incident.
But the Greek master of the Silver Horn challenged the allegation, made in a statement typed in English on board his ship as it lay about 20 nautical miles off the coast of South Korea.
The statement, a copy of which was obtained by the South China Morning Post, purports to be a joint ''Confirmation Notice of Collision'', with positions at the bottom designated for the two captains to sign.
It says the Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 16 had identified a number of ships ahead of it with the help of its radar, because of the poor visibility, and had manoeuvred correctly under international regulations to avoid collision with the Silver Horn.
The tanker took no action, it says, and the Xiang Yang Hong 16 was struck at 5.05 am on Sunday and sank 35 minutes later.
''After collision, two lifeboats of Xiang Yang Hong 16 were heavily damaged. During our self-rescuing, we requested Silver Horn again and again to send its lifeboats to help us, but no lifeboats were sent to us.
