World News for Students of English

21-03-2016 15:00

Argentina’s coastguard has sunk a Chinese fishing trawler after a territorial waters dispute. According to officials, the boat was fishing illegally in its national waters. In a statement, the Argentine navy said that the boat was intercepted after it did not heed warning calls. Sailors then shot holes in different parts of the fishing boat, causing it to sink.

The Argentine navy says it has been 15 years since one of its vessels last sank a foreign vessel fishing illegally in Argentina’s waters, but the offending ship was performing manoeuvres designed to force a collision with the coastguard, putting at risk not only its own crew, but coastguard personnel.

The Chinese government has “expressed serious concern” over the incident, but appeared to admit that it had been fishing in Argentina’s territorial waters, before it was engaged and sunk.

Four of the trawler’s crew were rescued. Others who abandoned ship were picked up by another Chinese vessel shadowing the pursuit.

Difficult words: trawler (a boat), dispute (a conflict), intercept (to stop), heed (to follow, to pay attention to), vessel (a ship), offending (problematic), personnel (the people working), concern (to worry), engage (to interact), shadow (to watch closely), pursuit (a chase).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com