The National Committee for Incident, Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue said that a fishing vessel from the central city of Da Nang had sunk near the Passu Keah Reef on Wednesday.

Nine fishermen on board were rescued by a Vietnamese ship, and the Da Nang People’s Committee requested China to help the owner recover the sunken vessel. The owner later hired two ships from the central province of Quang Ngai Province to salvage the ship.

However, instead of helping, a Chinese speedboat deliberately thwarted efforts to recover the sunken Vietnamese vessel Thursday.

The rescue committee requested intervention from the Vietnam Foreign Ministry, Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center and the Coast Guard Command right after the Chinese speedboat showed up at 2:20 p.m.

But after waiting and seeing no help coming, the fishermen who’d come to salvage the sunken vessel left at 4 p.m. Thursday.

In another incident last Sunday, China declined a request from Vietnam to rescue a damaged vessel from the central province of Quang Nam, also near the Passu Keah Reef.

It declined to help on the ground that the vessel only had a mechanical problem and not a life-threatening accident, and suggested that the fishermen contact a professional Chinese ship-rescue firm and pay for its services.

The damaged ship was later rescued by another Vietnamese ship.