Thursday, January 05, 2012

Chinese, Burmese ships attacked on Mekong River

Chinese, Burmese ships attacked on Mekong River

By Zhang Ming'ai
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, January 6, 2012
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2012-01/06/content_24339265.htm

Four Chinese cargo ships and one Burmese patrol ship were attacked on the Mekong River on Jan. 4, river police in charge of security on the Mekong River in north and northeast Thailand told People's Daily.

Police force from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand launches joint patrol along the Mekong River in Guanlei Port in Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Dec. 10, 2011.

Police force from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand launch joint patrol along the Mekong River in Guanlei Port in Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Dec. 10, 2011. [Sina.com]

Quoting a police report, an officer said that the Myanmar patrol ship and Chinese cargo ships near a Burmese dock were attacked by armed assailants in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The report went on to state that the armed assailants fired M79 rockets at the ships, with the first rocket falling in the river and the second exploding near the patrol ship. Due to low lighting conditions at the time of the incident, the patrol ship was unable to determine the source of the attack and subsequently could not offer a meaningful armed response.

The police report concluded that the incident has greatly affected shipping services on the Mekong River.

Although no Chinese ships were hit in the attack, crew members expressed concerns over security on the river.

Shipping services were restored on the Mekong last December after their suspension following the deaths of 13 Chinese sailors in cargo ship attacks on the river on Oct. 5, 2011.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

China deploys patrol boats on Mekong

Those patrol boats are purposely built for small arms fire-fights – well-protected by 100mm armor plates, fronted by 12.7mm mounts. It is no type 527 riverine but good luck trying to sink it with RPG. (Guess who picks up the tab for those patrol boats?)

Myanmar boarder police
Loas boarder police (nice police camo)

China boarder police

China deploys patrol boats on Mekong: state media
AFPAFP –
http://news.yahoo.com/china-deploys-patrol-boats-mekong-state-media-052210019.html

China's national flag is seen flying from the back of a ship sailing down the Mekong river. China has deployed more than 300 armed police to patrol the river in boats in collaboration with Myanmar, Thailand and Laos after a deadly attack in October, according to state-run media

China's national flag is seen flying from the back of a ship sailing down the Mekong …

China has deployed more than 300 armed police to patrol the Mekong river in boats in collaboration with Myanmar, Thailand and Laos after a deadly attack in October, according to state-run media.

Two months ago, 13 Chinese sailors were killed on a section of the river south of China's border, raising concerns in Beijing for the safety of crews and cargoes sailing south through an area rife with drug warfare and smuggling.

Citing officials, the official China Daily newspaper said that Chinese police would escort 10 private cargo ships, including the boats that were attacked on October 5 by what is thought to have been a drug gang.

"The special force will serve as the first joint-patrol law enforcement team of the national border defense department, committed to safeguarding the international waterway," said public security deputy minister Meng Hongwei.

The Mekong flows through China's southwestern province of Yunnan into Southeast Asia, serving as a major trade route through several countries including Cambodia and Vietnam.

China reacted angrily to the October attack, sending patrol boats down the Mekong to retrieve 164 stranded Chinese sailors and 28 cargo ships and calling on diplomats from Thailand, Laos and Myanmar to speed up investigations.

Since then, police in Thailand have detained nine soldiers who are suspected of killing the Chinese sailors and are also thought to have links with a Myanmar drug kingpin.

4 comments:

Steven said...

Jeez, M79s they can do a heck of a lot of damage to those patrol craft. They probably have RPG-7s to. With the heavy forest cover I expect to see a lot more of these hit and run incidents. There REALLY needs to send dedicated army patrol ships on the Mekong and not converted civilian craft. I'd hate to think of what would have happened if that Burmese patrol ship had actually gotten hit by both of those grenades.

TLAM Strike said...

I thought they already found Colonel Walter E. Kurtz and terminated him with extreme prejudice.

BTW were those rockets the Yugoslav M79 bazooka or the US M79 Grenade launcher?

Coatepeque said...

LOL

Coatepeque said...

Most likely to be US M79 from the Vietnam war of 1965