Originally published on March 12, 2014

The Philippines military said on Wednesday (March 12) that it has air-dropped food and water to soldiers guarding a grounded transport ship on a disputed South China Sea shoal after China blocked two of their supply ships.

According to Reuters, Chinese coast guard ships patrolling waters around Second Thomas Shoal ordered the Philippine ships carrying construction materials to leave the area on March 9. The Philippine military evaded the Chinese sea blockade by sending a navy Islander plane to drop food and water to the shoal on the next day, but claims the supply will only last a few days.

China claims that the Philippines is trying to start construction on the disputed reef while the Philippines claims that it only intend to improve the conditions there. The Philippines have been sending supplies to troops using civilian ships since last year and this was the first time China blocked them, Reuters reported.

The incident took place at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly island group, about 200 kilometres from the Philippine island of Palawan and which Manila insists is part of its continental shelf. The shoal is more than 1,000 kilometres from Hainan island, but China claims nearly all of the South China Sea based on what it says are historical records.

The BRP Sierra Madre, a former World-War-II US navy transport ship that was transferred to the Philippine navy was run aground on the shoal in the 1999 to mark its territory. A tiny unit of Filipino marines have been stationed on the ship ever since.