Advertisement
Advertisement
Indonesia
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Indonesian authorities inspect of one of the Chinese ships on Batam Island. Photo: Twitter

Indonesia seizes two Chinese boats after body of man found aboard

  • The fishing vessels – Lu Huang Yuan Yu 117 and Lu Huang Yuan Yu 118 – were ‘dragged to a military base’ on Batam Island for further investigation
  • An NGO said an Indonesian crew member died after being kicked in the chest by one of the boats’ Chinese captains
Indonesia
The Indonesian authorities have seized two Chinese fishing boats, one carrying the dead body of an Indonesian crew member, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday.
Retno told a press conference that coastguard, police and navy personnel chased after the two boats on Wednesday after receiving a report that one of them was carrying the dead crewman.
The boats – Lu Huang Yuan Yu 117 and Lu Huang Yuan Yu 118 – were “stopped while they were still in Indonesia’s territorial waters” and “then dragged to a military base” on Batam Island, near Singapore, for further investigation, she said.

She said the 21 other Indonesian crew members might have also been exploited by the Chinese company owning the boats and subjected to bad working conditions.

03:23

Body of Indonesian fisherman dumped overboard amid allegations of abuse on Chinese ship

Body of Indonesian fisherman dumped overboard amid allegations of abuse on Chinese ship

The minister did not go into detail, but non-governmental organisation Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia said the sailorman who died fell sick after having been kicked in the chest by one of the boats’ Chinese captains.

“He didn’t get any food while sick and (then) only received bread and milk after he was in critical condition,” Laode Hardiani, field coordinator of the organisation, said in a statement, quoting witnesses.

The Indonesian crew members were recruited by an Indonesian company providing sailormen for the Chinese fishing boats.

Indonesian fishermen who died on Chinese boats faced abuse, 21-hour days

Three executives of that company were detained by police in May in connection with the deaths of four seamen and the labour exploitation of dozens of others working on Chinese fishing boats.

Their case was revealed to the public after South Korean media reports quoted crew members as complaining they had to work 18 hours a day and were treated worse than Chinese crew members.

They were also paid only a tenth of the US$300 per month they were entitled to receive under their work contracts.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Two Chinese boats seized after man’s body found aboard
Post