Shots fired at fishing boat caught on video
Print Edition
A PHILIPPINE coast guard is seen laughing while trying to fire a rifle at a fleeing Taiwan fishing boat, in a video of an incident that left one man dead.
In the 40-minute video, coast guard officers can be seen firing M-14 rifles and a mounted automatic machine gun at the vessel when it is a few hundred meters away and trying to escape.
The video was taken by one of the Filipino crewmen and released by the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation, which recommended last week that homicide charges be filed against eight coast guards.
A 65-year-old Taiwan fisherman, one of four people on board the small vessel, was killed in the May 9 incident which occurred in waters off the northern Philippines that Taiwan claims as part of its economic zone.
The coast guard said the Taiwan vessel was fishing illegally and they were forced to fire in self-defense as it tried to ram them.
But after Taiwan protested and imposed economic sanctions, the Philippine government apologized last week.
The video showed the Taiwan crew initially appeared to be giving up, allowing the coast guard vessel to come alongside their boat so it could be boarded.
But as the Filipinos prepared a rope to tie the two vessels together, the Taiwan boat reversed, then sped away with the Philippine vessel in pursuit.
As the coast guard vessel closed in on the Taiwan boat to what appeared to be about 100 meters, Filipino voices could be heard yelling: “Shoot the engine.”
Gunshots could then be heard in the background and bullets were seen hitting the water as the two vessels bounced across the waves for many minutes.
One coast guard tried to fire his rifle at the Taiwan boat, then laughed and smiled as the gun jammed. Others were seen crouching or propping each other up to steady their aim as the Taiwan vessel gained distance.
Eventually the fishing boat got too far away, leaving the coast guards to watch with rifles still in their hands.
The NBI later said they found 108 spent shells from bullets fired during the incident, with 45 bullet holes on the Taiwan fishing vessel.
NBI spokesman Cecilio Zamora said yesterday that the video disproved coast guard officials’ accounts that their men fired in self-defense. “The defense of the coast guard is they were threatened when (the Taiwan boat) tried to ram them. But we can see it only backed up and then tried to escape,” he said.
Coast guard chief Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena declined to comment yesterday on the video and the NBI’s findings.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
