The Chinese personnel beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring at least four sailors, Vietnamese state media reported. The personnel also allegedly smashed the fishing equipment and took away the crew’s catch.

Vietnam claims an attack by Chinese law enforcement on a Vietnamese fishing vessel in disputed waters resulted in injuries to 10 crewmen.

The Philippines accused Chinese maritime officials on Friday of carrying out an "unjustified assault" on Vietnamese fishermen in the contested waters of the South China Sea, adding its voice to a fraught dispute over the confrontation.

Vietnam has condemned China while saying that Chinese law enforcement personnel assaulted 10 Vietnamese fishermen, damaged their fishing gear and seized about 4 tons of fish catch near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The Philippines on Friday denounced China's alleged assault of Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing are also locked in violent confrontations that have led to fears of armed conflict.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishermen in the disputed South China Sea (SCS). The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands — an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China,

Vietnam accused Chinese law enforcement of a “brutal” attack on a Vietnamese fishing vessel on Sunday that threatened the lives of crew members in disputed waters of the South China Sea.Most Read from

By bno - Taipei Office In what is being seen as the latest in a long line of examples of Chinese intimidation tactics against non-Chinese fishermen in and round the South China Sea, reports are emerging of a vicious,