China-Russia Tension Over Cargo Ship Sinking

BEIJING, Feb 19, 2009 — -- China asked Russia on Thursday to explain how a Chinese cargo ship sank in Russian waters after reports it was fired on by the Russian military.

Seven Chinese sailors were missing after the "New Star" sank on Saturday in stormy seas off Vladivostok and after a Russian warship shot at least 500 rounds into it, the official China Daily newspaper said, quoting a Chinese-language paper which in turn quoted a Russian newspaper.

The "New Star" was held at the Russian port of Nakhodka earlier this month, suspected of involvement in smuggling. It left without permission last week, the China Daily said.

"China has made representations to the Russian side. We hope they continue with the search and rescue operations for the missing sailors and clarify the reason (for the incident) as soon as possible," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference.

China says three Chinese crew members were rescued and seven are missing.

Russia's authoritative Kommersant business daily wrote on Thursday the ship's crew consisted of 10 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians, including the captain.

"Eight sailors, including the captain, who were on a closed raft, were lifted on board one of the patrol ships within 30minutes," Kommersant wrote, quoting Andrei Samarkin, a chief investigator familiar with the case.

He said eight other sailors on an open raft were doomed.

"Due to extremely severe weather conditions, there was no chance whatsoever of helping those on an open raft," he said. "These sailors did not wear wetsuits, and when they were washed off into the sea they quickly received lethal hypothermia."

Warning

Kommersant quoted a statement by Russian border guards blaming the captain of the ship for the deaths of his sailors.

"(He) did not take all necessary measures to fight for the survivability of his ship," the border guards said.

In video footage of the incident broadcast on Russian television, gunfire could be heard. Authorities said the shipwas given adequate warning.

"The 'New Star' captain was called by radio, border guard boats sent light signals, a special flag demanding to stop was raised and a warning shot was fired," a prosecutor in Nakhodka, Alexander Selentsov, told Russia's Interfax news agency.

Interfax also quoted a border guard captain as saying "the foreign vessel disregarded authorities' demands and was fleeing to the Chinese economic zone at full speed".

Samarkin said Russian border guards had fired "several hundred shots" from a 30-mm automatic cannon in the direction of the ship after it declined to stop following "numerous light and sound signals" and ignored direct radio calls.

He said shots had been fired at the ship's bow and stern "where there are no cabins of the crew".

Ties between Beijing and Moscow warmed considerably in 2000-08 during the Russian presidency of Vladimir Putin, aproponent of a strong centralised state who visited China several times. Putin is now Russia's powerful prime minister.

The two countries share a long border.

(Reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow; Editing by Janet Lawrence)