CNN — The Philippines is investigating the deaths of three Filipino fishermen after they have been killed in a collision with a “international” vessel within the South China Sea, authorities within the nation mentioned on Wednesday. Philippine fishing boat FFB Dearyn was struck at round 4:20 a.m. on Monday close to Scarborough Shoal, based on the Philippine coast guard, citing a crew member. Eleven crew members survived the crash and used their very own service boats to achieve land on Tuesday morning, carrying the lifeless – together with the captain – to Pangasinan province in northern Luzon, the nation’s largest island, the coast guard mentioned. In a put up on X, previously Twitter, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned the coast guard is “backtracking and checking all monitored vessels within the space as a part of its ongoing investigation.” “We guarantee the victims, their households, and everybody that we are going to exert each effort to carry accountable those that are liable for this unlucky maritime incident,” Marcos mentioned. He additionally requested that every one events “chorus from participating in hypothesis” whereas the investigation is ongoing. In an replace Wednesday, the coast guard mentioned it could attain out to an oil tanker registered underneath the flag of the Marshall Islands, which can have been within the space on the time of the incident, primarily based on marine site visitors knowledge and survivors’ accounts. Based on info collected by authorities, the tanker got here from South Korea and was heading to Singapore, Rear Adm. Armand Balilo advised CNN affiliate CNN Philippines in a TV interview. Balilo mentioned the oil tanker was within the space throughout the time of the collision and authorities have been nonetheless accumulating proof. The South China Sea is a 1.three million-square-mile waterway that’s important to worldwide commerce, with an estimated third of worldwide delivery price trillions of {dollars} passing via annually. Which means big container ships and oil tankers routinely sail via the area. The ocean can also be house to huge fertile fishing grounds upon which many lives and livelihoods rely upon, usually utilizing a lot smaller vessels. As much as 85% of all maritime accidents are a results of navigation hazards and poorly regulated business operations that proceed to pose dangers to delivery and undermine the safety surroundings, mentioned John Bradford, worldwide affairs fellow in Indonesia for the Council on Overseas Relations. Such incidents are notably widespread in Southeast Asia, the place crews are sometimes mistreated and underneath educated, he added, citing the Info Fusion Centre in Singapore, which has counted 1,882 people as lifeless or lacking at sea within the first half of 2023. “Generally the collisions, even these leading to loss of life, aren’t reported as a result of there’s a lack of belief within the authorities or concern of prosecution for the collision or different actions. This speaks to the general governance drawback,” Bradford mentioned. The South China Sea can also be a serious maritime flashpoint. Bracketed by China and several other Southeast Asian nations, components of the ocean are claimed by a number of governments, with Beijing asserting possession over virtually all the waterway, in defiance of a world court docket ruling. Over the previous 20 years, China has occupied a lot of obscure reefs and atolls removed from its shoreline throughout the South China Sea, increase navy installations, together with runways and ports. Scarborough Shoal, often called Bajo de Masinloc within the Philippines and Huangyan Island in China, is a small however strategic reef and fishing floor 130 miles (200 kilometers) west of Luzon that has been a serious supply of tensions between Manila and Beijing. Richard Heydarian, senior lecturer in worldwide relations on the College of the Philippines’ Asian Heart, mentioned that even when this incident didn’t instantly contain China, the territorial disputes might have had an oblique affect. “The truth is that China has structural culpability for what’s taking place due to China’s bullying and numerous technique of stopping Filipino fishermen from accessing conventional fishing grounds. What’s taking place right here is that [Filipino fishermen are] being pushed farther and farther into the excessive seas,” Heydarian mentioned. China’s Overseas Ministry has defended the conduct of its vessels within the waterway and mentioned Beijing will “firmly safeguard” what it views as its territorial sovereignty. The realm has witnessed more and more frequent run-ins between Philippine vessels and tiny wood fishing boats in opposition to a lot bigger Chinese language coast guard ships and what Manila says are shadowy Chinese language “maritime militia” fishing vessels. In 2016, a world tribunal in The Hague dominated in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no authorized foundation to say historic rights to the majority of the South China Sea. Manila says Beijing has ignored the ruling.