This is not the first time Vietnamese fishermen have rescued Filipinos stranded at sea. In 2019, a Vietnamese boat saved 22 Filipino fishermen after their boat was rammed and sunk by a Chinese vessel in the Bien Dong Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea).

The Chinese vessel rammed a Filipino boat anchored near Reed Bank in the South China Sea, sinking it and abandoning the fishermen on board, the AFP reported, citing a statement by Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

The Reed Bank belongs to Vietnam’s Spratly (Truong Sa) Archipelago. Vietnam has full legal basis and historical evidence to assert its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands in the waterway, as well as legal rights over its waters in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), VNExpress reported.

The Filipino fishermen were later rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat.

Lorenzana thanked the captain and crew of the Vietnamese boat for saving the lives of the 22 Filipino crew while calling for a formal investigation on the incident and for diplomatic steps to be taken to prevent a repeat of such events.

The Vietnamese fishermen are from Tien Giang Province in the southern Mekong Delta. They continued their fishing voyage after making sure that the Filipinos were safe, said Tien Giang's fisheries officials.