What footage tells us about ships colliding in the South China Seapublished at 10:26 British Summer Time
Daniele Palumbo
BBC Verify journalist
Image source, Philippines Coast GuardThe video starts with a Philippines Coast Guard ship being chased by a Chinese vessel
We’ve been analysing a social media video posted this morning by the Philippines Coast Guard showing a new incident involved one of their ships and two Chinese government vessels in a disputed part of the South China Sea.
The Filipino video initially shows a China Coast Guard ship chasing a Philippines vessel. Then a third ship – from China’s navy – appears. It seems to sail at speed between the two other vessels before colliding with the Chinese coast guard ship.
The collision is said to have taken place near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed area of the South China Sea.
BBC Verify relies on ship-tracking websites like MarineTraffic to locate where the incident took place. But these are military vessels and so they are not sharing their positions.
The Chinese government has so far not confirmed a collision took place. However, another video posted by the Philippines Coast Guard shows clear damage on the bow of the Chinese Coast Guard vessel. The team at BBC Verify will continue investigating the incident.
Image source, Philippines Coast GuardA later video shows damage to the front of the Chinese ship
