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Canada: RCAF helicopter lasered by tanker in East China Sea

A Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter was illuminated by a green laser beam as it flew about 50 miles off the coast of China. The aircraft's home ship, Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Regina, had been in the East China Sea and the Strait of Taiwan tracking tankers that may be involved in smuggling fuel to North Korea, violating United Nations sanctions against the country.

According to the Regina's captain, the aircrew had been wearing protective safety lenses "just in case."

The exact date of the incident was not reported but came sometime in mid- to late June 2019.

A report by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said the laser came from a tanker, and that "there was no obvious link between alleged attacks [to U.S. aircraft in the South China Sea and near Djibouti] and the laser that was aimed at Canada's surveillance helicopter."

A CBC News article a day earlier said Canadian military "reported that someone on board a Chinese fishing boat pointed a laser at a Canadian CH-148 Cyclone helicopter operating near the Strait of Taiwan recently. No one was injured in that incident and there no was damage to the aircraft. It is unclear whether fishing vessel was part of the People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia, which operates a host of civilian vessels in both the East China Sea and the South China Sea."

It is not known if these were two separate incidents, or if there was a single laser incident with some confusion over whether the source was a tanker or a fishing boat.

From the Canadian Global Affairs Institute via The Maritime Executive, and CBC News