The Chinese torpedo reeled in by Vietnamese fisherman this week was a training torpedo gone astray during a Chinese naval exercise earlier this month, the Ministry of National Defense said on Friday.
On Tuesday, local fisherman Tran Minh Thanh spotted the object about 6.5 kilometers off the coast of Phu Yen, a province in south central Vietnam. Tran then towed the torpedo to a beach in Tuy An District and turned it in to authorities for inspections, local news reported.
The Chinese Defense Ministry said in an online statement that the torpedo was lost during a naval exercise by the Chinese Navy near the eastern waters of the Hainan island early this month, and was probably carried to the Vietnamese waters by currents.
"The torpedo is a regular training dummy, and does not have any targets," it added.
