refused to aid the foundered boat. Hence, the Chinese vessel violated two maritime laws – the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Others Though equipped with automatic identification system transponders, Yuemaobinyu 42212, the ship that sank the Filipino boat, was shown to have either had a problem with the equipment or had turned it off deliberately during the period from 27 April 2019 to 12 June 2019, and therefore could not be tracked immediately before or after the ramming incident. An Oceana Philippines representative stated that "going dark" was common practice for ships engaged in illegal fishing. Reactions China On 13 June 2019, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman pronounced the incident an "ordinary maritime accident." The following day, the Chinese Embassy in Manila released a statement via Facebook claiming that a Chinese fishing boat, Yuemaobinyu 42212, "was berthed near Reed Bank when it was suddenly besieged by 7 or 8 Filipino fishing boats". In attempting to evade the Filipino boats, the Chinese vessel's lightning grid cable dragged into the Filipino boat's pilothouse, causing the boat to tilt and founder. However, this Facebook post was later deleted. China released a revised statement on 18 June 2019, omitting the narrative that Yuemaobinyu 42212 had been besieged by 7 or 8 Filipino fishing boats. The statement referred to the incident as an "accidental collision" between fishing boats. It offered sympathies to the Filipino fishermen. In August 2019, Chen Shiqin, the President of the Guangdong Fishery Mutual Insurance Association, sent a letter to the Philippines apologizing for one of its member's ships sinking F/B Gem-Ver and subsequently abandoning its crew. It was initially reported that the apology was accepted, but this was later refuted by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on 12 June 2019 (Philippine Independence Day) condemned the sinking of F/B Gem-Ver. In particular, he denounced "the actions of the Chinese fishing vessel for immediately leaving the incident scene abandoning the 22 Filipino crewmen to the mercy of the elements", an action which he described as "cowardly." Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. lodged a diplomatic protest regarding the incident with the People's Republic of China on the same day. Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad on 15 June stated that what happened to the Filipino fishing boat was "not