3 Chinese fishermen dead after clash with S Korea coast guard

Three Chinese fishermen died after inhaling toxic fumes when a fire erupted after South Korean coast guard officers threw “flashbang” grenades into the fishing boat, officials said on Friday.

The latest in a series of clashes between South Korea’s coast guard and Chinese fishing boats, venturing farther from their increasingly barren home waters, took place on Thursday when a South Korean coast guard vessel tried to stop the Chinese boat from suspected illegal fishing about 70 km from an island off South Korea’s southwestern coast.

The vessel, carrying 17 fishermen, initially resisted and fled before South Korean coast guard officers boarded the ship and threw flashbang grenades into its locked steering room, the coast guard said in a statement.  Flashbang grenades are non-lethal devices that produce a blinding flash of light and loud sound.

A fire erupted on the boat and three fishermen found lying in the boat’s engine room later died, the coast guard statement said.

Coast guard officers said the three died after inhaling toxic smoke, but autopsies would be conducted to find out the exact causes of their deaths. Authorities will also investigate if the flashbang grenades caused the fire.

The 14 surviving fishermen were taken to a South Korean port for questioning, according to the coast guard.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the deaths, but noted the Chinese boat was fishing illegally and had tried to flee to avoid an inspection. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

Chinese fishing boats have been going farther afield to feed growing domestic demand for seafood as catches have decreased in waters close to China’s shores.

Chinese boats have regularly had violent clashes with South Korea’s coast guard, and in 2014, a South Korea coast guardsman fatally shot the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel who was violently resisting an inspection.

In 2012, a Chinese fisherman died after being hit by a rubber bullet fired by a South Korean guardsman. A year earlier, a South Korean coast guard officer was killed in a clash with Chinese fishermen.