Indonesian Navy Patrol Struck by Vietnamese Ship over Natuna Sea

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Based on the recent online viral video, the Indonesian Navy battleship KRI Tjiptadi-381 patrolling Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) at the North Natuna Sea clashed with a Vietnamese ship on Saturday, April 27, that is believed to have escorted an illegal fishing boat.

This incident was confirmed by Indonesian Navy Fleet Command I Commander Adm. Yudo Margono which was quoted by the Navy’s spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Agung Nugroho in Jakarta.

The incident occurred when the Indonesian Navy ship was patrolling the Indonesian EEZ, “Specifically, it happened at the Northern Natuna Sea against a foreign fishing boat flying the Vietnam flag code numbered BD 979,” said Yudo, who also acknowledged that the fishing boat was illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.

Read also: Two Malaysian Illegal Fishing Boats Caught in Malacca Strait

As the Indonesian Navy ship attempted to apprehend the Vietnamese civilian fishing boat, a Vietnamese Official fisheries boat that had been escorting the illegal fishing boat chimed in and physically rammed into the Indonesian Navy ship’s starboard side.

“They provoked up to physical interference by ramming into the [starboard side] of the KRI Tjiptadi-381,” Yudo explained.

According to the Commander, the location where the incident took place in Indonesia’s EEZ and that the Navy ship’s attempt to apprehend the Vietnamese illegal fishing boat adhered to legal procedures. However, Vietnam had also claimed that the area of the sea.

The KRI Tjiptadi-381 did not return the aggression to suppress sparking any international incidents and according to Yudo, will be solved via government diplomacy between Indonesian and Vietnam. The incident eventually saw the illegal fishing boat sunk.

ANTARA