Tensions rose as Vietnam and China exchanged barbs on Tuesday over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat near the oil rig China built in one of the most disputed waters in the South China Sea. 

According to officials from Hanoi, there were some 40 Chinese fishing boats that surrounded a Vietnamese craft. Not long after, one of the Chinese fishing boats rammed into the Vietnamese vessel and sank it into the sea. 

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Hanoi government officials and its coastguard said that other Vietnamese fishing boats that were operating near the incident rescued 10 fishermen on board the fishing vessel that sank. 

However, Beijing has an entirely different story. Citing a government source, state news agency Xinhua said the Vietnamese vessel sank after it harassed and collided with a Chinese fishing boat. 

Both countries have been squaring off around the oil rig China built in the disputed territorial waters. Vietnamese and Chinese ships in great numbers, which include coastguard vessels, were reported seen near the oil rig. 

The collision on Monday took place about 17 miles from the oil rig, which is drilling between a group of tiny islands referred to as Paracel, which China claims as its own, and the Vietnamese coast. 

Nguyen Quang Dam, head of Vietnam's coastguard, told Reuters that one of Vietnam's fishing boats from Da Nang, the country's central city, was deliberately surrounded by 40 Chinese fishing vessels right before a Chinese ship attacked it. 

Vietnam accused China of encroaching on its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone by building and operating the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981.

The rig is located 250 km or 150 miles off the coast of Vietnam, and 330 km or 206 miles off the coast of China's southern island Hainan.

TagsVietnam versus China, Vietnam-China relations, Oil rig, fishing boats