Chinese ship capsizes in Indian Ocean with 39 on board, Xi Jinping orders search and rescue

Fishing boat with crew members from China, Indonesia and the Philippines capsizes south of the Maldives, though exact location and cause are unclear
Xi tells departments to activate emergency response and send additional help, urges foreign ministry and embassies to work with local authorities

Accidents, extreme weather and disasters in China

Cyril Ip

Published: 3:36pm, 17 May, 2023

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered an all-out search and rescue operation after a Chinese fishing boat with 39 crew members on board capsized in the Indian Ocean south of the Maldives.

The boat, Lupeng Yuanyu 028, capsized on Tuesday morning with 17 Chinese sailors, 17 Indonesians and five Filipinos on board, according to a report by state-owned broadcaster CCTV. None of the missing people have been found so far and the precise location of the incident remains unclear.

The Philippine coastguard said in a statement that it was monitoring the incident in coordination with the Chinese embassy, adding that the cause of the capsize was unclear.

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The vessel was operated by Penglai Jinglu Fishery, a company based in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong. The company is engaged in deep-sea fishing, export processing, prepared food sales, marine farming and shipbuilding.

The company has six squid fishing boats and six ultra-low temperature tuna longliners that operate year-round in waters near the North Pacific, the Indian Ocean and South America. It mainly exports aquatic products to Japan, the United States and the European Union.

According to ship-tracking site FleetMon, the boat left Cape Town, South Africa on May 3 and appeared to be heading to Busan, South Korea.

Xi ordered provincial authorities, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other departments to immediately activate the emergency response system to assess the situation and send additional rescue forces.

Xi urged the foreign ministry and embassies abroad to strengthen contact with local parties to coordinate international search and rescue operations. Rescue teams from Australia and several other countries have arrived on the scene.

02:53

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China has sent two vessels – Lupeng Yuanyu 018 and Yuanfu Hai – to the scene, and other rescue forces are heading to the waters where contact was lost. The foreign ministry has requested countries in the region, including Australia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia and the Philippines, to join the efforts.

Xi added that early warning systems for safety risks should be strengthened for distant-water fishing operations.

In a separate instruction, Chinese Premier Li Qiang demanded coordinating parties make maximum efforts to organise rescue operations and reduce casualties.

China has the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet with nearly 3,000 ships, some operating as far as South America, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

In January, the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship Jin Tian capsized in waters between South Korea and Japan, killing six Chinese citizens and two Myanmar nationals. Nine others remain missing.