China demands swift action after Mekong sailor deaths

BEIJING Oct 13 (Reuters) - China on Thursday demanded swift action from three Southeast Asian countries to prevent repeat attacks on Chinese nationals on the Mekong River after 13 sailors died on its waters near the Thai-Myanmar border.

"The Chinese government values the life and safety of every Chinese citizen and demands a thorough probe of what happened and that the murderers be brought to justice," Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao told envoys from Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

He told the three countries to "step up their investigation, get to the bottom of the matter as soon as possible, report their findings to China in a timely manner and ... severely punish the assailants", according to a statement on the ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn).

The three must ensure the safety of Chinese sailors on the river and China will assist in ensuring that happens, the ministry paraphrased Song as saying.

The victims were crew members on two cargo ships attacked on Oct. 5 in the "Golden Triangle", where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet, a region notorious for drug smuggling.

China will send a patrol ship to pick up Chinese sailors who have been stranded in Thailand since the incident and hopes the three countries will provide assistance for that, Song said.

The three envoys expressed their deep condolences over the deaths and said they were committed to working with China to deal with the aftermath of the incident, the ministry's statement added.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)