Indonesia seizes two Chinese boats after body of man found aboard

Name: Body of Indonesian fisherman dumped overboard amid allegations of abuse on Chinese ship
Uploaded: 2020-07-10T13:46:46.000Z
Duration: 3 min 23 s
Description: Body of Indonesian fisherman dumped overboard amid allegations of abuse on Chinese ship

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

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Indonesian authorities inspect of one of the Chinese ships on Batam Island. Photo: Twitter

Kyodo

Published: 9:46pm, 10 Jul 2020Updated: 4:18am, 11 Jul 2020

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.

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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.