Officials from the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand on July 11 worked with the police in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla on protection procedures for 15 fishermen who have been detained at the provincial police headquarters since July 8.

The fishermen are crewmembers of four fishing boats from the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, with a total 18 sailors aboard, who were fired upon and arrested by the Thai navy.

The shooting injured two and left one missing, while two of the boats sunk as they were escorted to harbour by the Thai naval vessels.

At a working session with the officials, led by First Secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy Nguyen Hai Ngoc, chief inspector of Songkhla province’s police, Colonel Alongkorn Seemavuth, said that the two sunken boats are BT 93024 TS and BT 98081 TS, and boats BT 93023 TS and BT 93133TA are being detained.

The injured are Nguyen Van Queo, 29, and Nguyen Van Linh, 25. The real name of the missing sailor, also known as U and about 23 years old, remains unknown, he said.

Colonel Alongkorn alleged that the fishermen violated the waters of Thailand, adding that they will be punished in accordance to Thailand’s law.

Meanwhile, the arrested fishermen said that the boats were surrounded and fired upon by Thai naval vessels when they were operating at around noon of July 8. Meanwhile, the steerman, U, went missing while steering the boat to harbour under the Thai navy officials’ control, they said.

Also on July 11, the embassy officials worked to protect 27 crewmembers of two fishing boats coded KG 907181 and CM 91653 which were arrested earlier.-

VNA