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Spain’s maritime rescue service said an international operation was under way to locate the crew of the Villa de Pitanxo, a boat from the north-western Galicia region that went down 280 miles (450km) off the Newfoundland coast. Three people have been plucked from a life raft and seven bodies have been recovered in a search operation that has been hindered by wind, rough seas and reduced visibility. A plane, two helicopters and four boats are combing the area for survivors. Canadian rescuers said they were optimistic, despite the bad weather.

Foreign powers test US defenses amid coronavirus pandemic BY ELLEN MITCHELL - 04/19/20 08:00 AM EDT U.S. adversaries are probing America's defenses as the world is preoccupied with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. In the past two weeks, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have all moved to test Washington in the sea, in the air and on land as U.S. forces have become more restricted in movement amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19. “Exactly how distracted is the U.S. military? They want to know,” said Susanna Blume, the director of the defense program at the Center for...

The Vietnamese ship was sunk near the disputed Paracel Islands, an island chain which has been one of the hot points of tension in the area.

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Two North Koreans who killed 16 fellow crew members on a squid fishing boat were repatriated by South Korean authorities on Thursday afternoon after being captured at sea near the Northern Limit Line, a maritime boundary off South Korea's east coast, the Unification Ministry said. The two men, both in their 20s, were found to have killed 16 crew members, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Unification said in a briefing. "As a result of a joint investigation, the men in their 20s were found to have killed and fled 16 fellow crew members from...

SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- A fishing boat has vanished and is feared to have sunk after searching for sailors missing from last week's naval disaster, maritime police said Saturday. Police said they lost contact with the 99-ton boat, carrying nine people aboard, after receiving a distress signal at around 8:30 p.m. Friday in the area off the western sea border with North Korea, where the patrol ship Cheonan ship sank on March 26.

North Koreans holding Chinese boat for ransom By William Wan, Published: May 20 BEIJING — Armed North Koreans are holding a Chinese fishing boat and its crew for ransom despite the protests of Chinese officials, the boat’s owner said Monday. The boat’s seizure — which occurred early this month but was revealed by Chinese officials only Sunday night — is the latest dust-up between North Korea and China, which Pyongyang has long relied on to prop up its economy and defend it from international censure efforts by the United States and others.

For the third time this month, the U.S. Navy has come to the rescue of distressed Iranian fishermen -- at the same time Iran has threatened to disrupt a key oil route off its coast. Guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey rendered aid to the crew of a sinking Iranian fishing dhow in the central Arabian Sea, according to a Navy press release. A helicopter from the Maritime Strike Squadron 71 spotted the fishing boat Wednesday morning reportedly with one person on board. "Our first priority was to make sure that all of the crew (of the fishing vessel) was safe," Lt....

Don't take peaceful approach for granted Global Times | October 25, 2011 01:22 By Global Times Recently, both the Philippines and South Korean authorities have detained fishing boats from China, and some of those boats haven't been returned. China has been increasingly confronted with sea disputes and challenged by tough stances from the countries involved. These events have been promoting hawkish responses within China, asking the government to take action. China has emphasized its reluctance in solving disputes at sea via military means on many occasions. Peace is vital for its own economic development. But some of China's neighboring countries...

North may kidnap to get defectors back: Source April 28, 2011 The North Korean military has been given orders to hijack South Korean fishing boats near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a South Korean government official told the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday. “I believe that the North Koreans wish to take our citizens hostage and return them in exchange for the four North Koreans, among the 31 who drifted across the maritime border this past February, who defected,” said the government source. “The South Korean government and the military shared this tip last week. We have our guard up as...

N.Korea seizes S.Korean fishing boat by Park Chan-Kyong 1 hr 5 mins ago SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea has seized a South Korean fishing boat in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the South's coastguard said Sunday, in an incident which could further inflame high cross-border tensions. The boat with four South Korean and three Chinese crewmen was detained while apparently operating near the North's exclusive economic zone, the coastguard said in a statement. It was being towed Sunday to the North's northeastern port of Songjin. "We urge North Korean authorities to handle this case in accordance with international norms...

S. Korean fishing boat goes missing amid tension with N. Korea SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean fishing boat has gone missing in the East Sea, an official said Sunday, amid tension between the divided Koreas over naval exercises in the Yellow Sea. The North has threatened physical retaliation for the five-day maritime exercises the South is holding in the Yellow Sea in a show of force after its warship sank in an attack blamed on Pyongyang.

reginaldo writes to clue us that pirates in Somalia have opened up a cooperative in Haradheere, where investors can pay money or guns to help their favorite pirate crew for a share of the piracy profits. "'Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 "maritime companies" and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,' Mohammed [a wealthy former pirate who took a Reuters reporter to the facility] said. ... Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others...

Russia fires on Japanese boat, one dead A Japanese fisherman died after a Russian border patrol boat fired on a fishing boat east of Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, Japanese Coast Guard officials said on Wednesday. Tokyo was likely to protest the "excessive use of force" once the circumstances had been clarified, a government source said. Fishing disputes are common in the area, and Russian border patrols often try to capture Japanese fishermen. But the last time a Japanese fisherman was shot dead by a Soviet vessel was nearly 50 years ago, in October 1956, Japanese officials said. "Seizures...

A replica of the fishing boat that prosecutors say Scott Peterson used to dispose of his wife's body stirred up emotions and caused a run on floral arrangements Wednesday in Redwood City. Peterson's attorney Mark Geragos parked the replica boat, complete with a headless dummy tied in duct tape and weighted down with concrete anchors, in the parking lot of an office building he owns a block from the courthouse where jurors are deliberating the case against Peterson. The defense attorney had used the 14-foot aluminum boat to videotape a re- enactment of someone trying to dump a 150-pound body...

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police said Saturday they had arrested three Egyptian fishermen suspected of plotting to attack a cemetery of American war dead south of Rome. Explosives and maps highlighting the Nettuno American Cemetery and Memorial in the town of Anzio were seized in an apartment in Italy belonging to one of the men, a police official said. "They were preparing a symbolic attack against the American cemetery," the official said, adding police suspected the men were tied to Islamic terrorism. The Egyptians, aged 30 to 45, were arrested Friday but have not been formally charged. Police said they...

Nine dead in Oregon fishing boat accident 06/14/2003 By KGW.com and Associated Press TILLAMOOK, Ore. - At least nine people are dead after a charter fishing boat carrying 19 people capsized as it sailed out of Tillamook Bay Saturday morning, Tillamook County Sheriff's officials said. Rescuers continued searching for one person, the Coast Guard said. Eight people were brought, cold and in shock, to the emergency room at Tillamook County General Hospital, said nursing supervisor Heather Scovell. "They're cold, in shock, getting fluids," she said. The seven men and one woman suffered from hypothermia, needed oxygen because of near...