The captain of the San Jose, Occidental Mindoro-based F/B Gem-Ver on Friday maintained that he and his crew were minding their own business when a reported Chinese fishing vessel appeared out of nowhere and struck them while anchored off Recto Bank midnight of June 9. “It was around 12 midnight. We were anchored and we were showing a lot of white bright lights to signal our position, when a ship suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit us. It was fast, I was trying to start our engine when we were hit in the stern, cutting it off from the rest of our boat,” June Insigne, 43, said in Filipino when asked by reporters on the circumstances of the incident that capsized their boat, tossing him and his crew to the sea. Insigne said they were doing nothing provocative to warrant such actions by the other Chinese fishing vessel.

We did nothing provocative - Pinoy fishing boat captain. (2019, June 16). Manila Bulletin, pp. 1, 13.