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☆ Live updates: Baltimore Key Bridge collapse news and rescue efforts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Ships managed by the Synergy Marine Group — the company that managed the vessel that hit Baltimore's Key Bridge — have been involved in at least three deadly incidents since 2018, according to investigations and statements from officials in Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines. In 2018, a person onboard a vessel managed by Synergy in Australia was killed in an accident involving the ship’s personnel elevator, according to a report from the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau. “Many of these accidents involve the failure to apply existing safety management procedures and/or identified safety barriers that have proven effective in reducing the risks associated with elevator maintenance," the safety board's director, Stuart Macleod, was quoted saying in the report. In 2019, an officer on a Synergy-registered vessel in Singapore was reported missing after “likely fallen overboard while performing inspection or cleaning jobs at the outboard side,” according to a report by Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau. The tanker referenced in the Philippine Coast Guard report, Petite Soeur, has been managed by Synergy since October 2022, according to the Electronic Quality Shipping Information System (Equasis) — a global tool promoting maritime safety.

Persons: Stuart Macleod, ” Organizations: Synergy, —, Australian Transportation Safety Bureau, Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation, Philippines Coast Guard, Philippine Coast Guard, Electronic Quality Shipping Locations: Australia, Singapore, Philippines

☆ In cat and mouse game, Philippines resupplies troops in South China Sea atoll
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Jay Ereno | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Journalists onboard a Philippines Coast Guard ship take photos of a China Coast Guard vessel, during a resupply mission for troops stationed at a grounded Philippines ship, in the South China Sea, September 8, 2023. NO ARCHIVES Acquire Licensing RightsSOUTH CHINA SEA, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The Philippines has completed a supply mission for troops stationed in a rusty World War Two-era ship, but not without a usual cat and mouse chase with Chinese vessels in the South China Sea. In another instance, a Philippine ship was surrounded by a Chinese coast guard vessel and three maritime militia vessels. One of the Chinese ships was also seen heading dangerously close to the Philippine vessel which Reuters was onboard, while several Chinese militia vessels tried to block its path. "We always encounter dangerous manoeuvres, shadowing activities, blocking not only from China coast guard vessels, but also from China militia vessels," Philippine Coast Guard commanding officer Emmanuel Dangate told reporters after the mission.

Persons: Jay Ereno, Thomas Shoal, Emmanuel Dangate, Jay Ereño, Neil Jerome Morales, Clelia Organizations: Journalists, Philippines Coast Guard, China Coast Guard, REUTERS, CHINA SEA, Reuters, Chinese Coast Guard, Philippine Coast Guard, BRP, BRP Sierra Madre, U.S . Navy, China, Thomson Locations: Philippines, South China, Philippine, China, BRP Sierra, U.S, China's, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan

☆ Video Shows China Blasting Water Cannon at Philippines Coast Guard Boat
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Philippine Coast Guard has released a video that shows a Chinese Coast Guard vessel firing a water cannon at one of its ships, going public with a new complaint of aggressive behavior from China. Two vessels of the Philippines Coast Guard were on what was supposed to be a normal resupply mission 120 miles off the coast of Palawan, when they ran into a Chinese blockade. After a Chinese vessel fired its water cannon at one Philippine ship, it then moved to block it from advancing. The area is claimed by several countries and has been a site of repeated run-ins between Chinese and Philippine ships. On Monday, China’s Coast Guard released a statement, justifying its move by claiming that the Philippines violated China’s sovereignty and international law and that the Philippine ships had been “lawfully intercepted.”

Persons: Thomas Shoal, ” Organizations: Philippine Coast Guard, Coast Guard, Philippines Coast Guard, China’s Coast Guard Locations: China, Palawan, Philippine, Spratly, South China, Philippines

Images from the Philippine Coast Guard also showed the Chinese ship moving dangerously close in front of the Philippine Coast Guard vessels as they escorted the resupply boats. Manila’s claims are backed by the international Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which ruled in 2016 that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea. “Two Filipino supply vessels and two coast guard vessels illegally intruded into the waters adjacent to Renai Reef in China’s Nansha Islands,” Gan Yu, spokesman for the China Coast Guard, said according to the statement published on its website Sunday. Gan reasserted Chinese territorial claims on the islands and the South China Sea and vowed to continue law-enforcement activity within the region. And on Monday, China’s coast guard, in a statement, accused Manila of trying to “permanently occupy” Chinese sovereign territory.

Persons: Thomas, Renai, Matthew Miller, Ottawa “ unreservedly, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Thomas Shoal, Collin Koh, ”, Koh, Philippine Sen, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gan Yu, Gan, Jeffrey Ordaniel, Blake Herzinger, Lloyd Austin, Gilberto Teodoro Jr, Jonathan Malaya, ” Koh, Ordaniel Organizations: CNN, Coast Guard, Philippine Coast Guard, South China, Philippines Mutual Defense, US State Department, Canadian Embassy, Ottawa, Chinese Coast Guard, Philippines Coast Guard Philippine, Philippine Foreign Ministry, BRP, BRP Sierra Madre, Court, Rajaratnam, of International Studies, CNN Philippines, China Coast Guard, Facebook, Pacific Forum, Tokyo International University, United States Studies Center, US, Philippine, Monday’s, National Security Council Locations: China, Philippine, South, United States, Philippines, Washington, Manila, Australia, Japan, Germany, South China, Beijing, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, BRP Sierra, Hague, Singapore, China’s Nansha, China’s, “, Malaya

☆ Philippines, Japan, U.S. hold first trilateral coast guard manoeuvres
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Moments later, its crew are marched away with their hands on their heads, concluding a simulation of a counter-terrorism operation in the South China Sea between the coast guards of the Philippines, and allies the United States and Japan. Tuesday's manoeuvre is part of an inaugural trilateral coast guard exercise between the three countries, coming at a time of growing unease over China's maritime conduct in the region. The drill was a mock interception of a vessel carrying weapons of mass destruction, where Philippines coast guard personnel encounter armed resistance while boarding the vessel and are tasked with bringing the situation under control. "All the exercises we do, we help one another to prepare for anything that may possibly happen in the future," said John Ybanez, a spokesperson for the Philippine coast guard. The exercises in waters off Bataan province involve more than 500 coast guard personnel and also include search and rescue and counter-piracy scenarios.

Persons: BRP Melchora Aquino, John Ybanez, China's militarisation, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Rodrigo Duterte, Adrian Portugal, Martin Petty, Mark Potter Organizations: Philippine Coast Guard, BRP, Thomson Locations: Philippines, Japan, U.S, Bataan, BATAAN, Philippine, South China, United States, China

☆ Vietnam rebukes China, Philippines over South China Sea conduct
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HANOI, May 18 (Reuters) - Vietnam criticised on Thursday the recent conduct in the South China Sea of a Chinese research ship and the Philippines coast guard, accusing its neighbours of separate actions that were violating its sovereign rights. Tensions are currently high in contested parts of the South China Sea, one of the world's most important trade routes and a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce. China had said that scientific research was a normal activity in areas under Chinese jurisdiction. China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territory, based on what it says are old maps, including waters that lie within the EEZ of Vietnam and four other Southeast Asian countries. Asked about the Philippines' move, Hang said: "Vietnam strongly opposes all acts violating Vietnam's sovereign rights."

☆ Over the South China Sea, dispute simmers via radios and rhetoric
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Eloisa Lopez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] An aerial view shows the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island, locally known as Pag-asa, in the contested Spratly Islands, South China Sea, March 9, 2023. REUTERS/Eloisa LopezABOARD PHILIPPINES COAST GUARD PLANE, South China Sea, March 10 (Reuters) - As a Philippine coast guard aircraft flew over the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, a message came in over the radio telling it to immediately leave "Chinese territory". "Calling China coast guard vessel. China's embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Beijing insists its coast guard is defending its territory. China's coast guard challenged the plane again as it flew over the shoal, located inside the Philippines 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

☆ Philippines coast guard chief says boosts South China Sea presence
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Karen Lema | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We're making sure that the presence of coast guard vessels is felt by the fishermen in the area," Admiral Artemio Abu, Commandant of the Philippines Coast Guard (PCG), said in an interview. "At a moment's notice, the coast guard vessels we will be there because they are exclusively and primarily dedicated for that purpose," said Abu. The 26,000-strong coast guard has 25 primary ships that can be used for deployment and patrols. Since 2002, the Philippines has filed 200 diplomatic notes and protests against China's actions in the South China Sea. The Pentagon also said separately the United States and the Philippines had "agreed to restart joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea to help address these challenges."

☆ Exclusive: Kamala Harris to visit Philippine island at edge of South China Sea dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The visit, scheduled for next Tuesday, will make Harris the highest-ranking American official to visit the island chain adjacent to the Spratly Islands. Beijing claims some territories in the waters off Palawan and much of the South China Sea as part of China, citing domestic historical maps. Harris' trip marks her second to Asia in three months and follows Biden's week-long trip to the region. The Harris trip also includes a stop in Thailand for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting. During her last trip to the region, Harris accused China of actions to "coerce and intimidate" neighbors.

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