Four Vietnamese fishermen were injured in the South China Sea at the weekend after the Indonesian navy fired at a Vietnamese fishing boat, authorities said on Monday.

Vietnam’s provincial search and rescue committee said in a statement on its website that the incident occurred on Saturday, injuring four men, two of them seriously, from Binh Dinh province.

“A Vietnamese fishing patrol ship has taken the two seriously-injured men to Vietnam’s Con Dao Island, about 180 kilometres from Vung Tau City’s south-east coast,’’ the committee said.

The fishermen were fishing about 245 kilometres south-east of Vietnam’s Con Dao Island.

Disputes and clashes have risen in recent years between claimants in the South China Sea.

Report says China claims as much as 90 per cent of sovereignty in the South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.

Indonesia is not a claimant in the dispute, but its navy has clashed several times with Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen it has accused of illegal fishing.

(dpa/NAN)