CNN —Three Filipino fishermen have died after an “unidentified commercial vessel” allegedly rammed their fishing boat near Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine coast guard said Wednesday, compounding tensions in a region of the disputed South China Sea that is already a flashpoint. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the coast guard is “backtracking and checking all monitored vessels in the area as part of its ongoing investigation,” according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The South China Sea is a 1.3 million-square-mile waterway that is vital to international trade, with an estimated third of global shipping worth trillions of dollars passing through each year. Over the past two decades, China has occupied a number of obscure reefs and atolls far from its shoreline across the South China Sea, building up military installations, including runways and ports. Philippine Coast GuardPhotos released by the Philippine coast guard show the scene at Barangay Cato on October 3.

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Persons: FFB Dearyn, –, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, ” Marcos Organizations: CNN, Cato, Philippine Coast Guard, Barangay Cato, Philippine Coast Guard Scarborough Locations: Scarborough Shoal, Philippine, China, Pangasinan, Luzon, Beijing, Infanta, Pangasinan province, Philippines, Bajo, Masinloc, Manila, The Hague, South China