Chinese forces surrounded and rammed the flagship of the Philippine Coast Guard today at Escoda Shoal in the seventh scuffle this month between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea.

BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701), the Philippine Coast Guard’s flagship and largest patrol ship, was rammed three times by China Coast Guard vessel 5205 around noon. The collisions punched a hole in the Teresa Magbanua’s hull and caused other damage. Multiple Chinese vessels surrounded the 97-meter-long Japanese-made patrol ship, during the fracas, including two Type 837 tugs from the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Images of the incident from the Philippine Coast Guard show the tugs positioned to the port and starboard sides of Teresa Magabanua. In prior incidents, including one on June 17th, Chinese forces have towed and pushed away Philippine vessels from disputed areas.

Ray Powell, director of the SeaLight Project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told USNI News that this is the first time he has seen Chinese forces deploy tugs to Escoda. While Powell acknowledged speculation that the tugs were there to push or tow Teresa Magbanua from the shoal, he was unsure “how they would accomplish this unless the ship was first somehow disabled.”