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Seven Chinese fishermen missing following collision

Seven Chinese fishermen are missing after a cargo ship rammed into the side of their transport vessel and snapped it in half just off Taiwan's northern coast, a Council of Agriculture (COA) official said yesterday.

The Pacific No. 168 vessel, carrying a Taiwanese captain, a Taiwanese crewman and 69 Chinese fishermen, was hit by a Singapore-registered cargo ship 2.6km north of Keelung Islet off the northern coast early yesterday morning.

Sixty-four seamen were rescued after the ship sank, but seven of the Chinese fishermen were still missing, Chen Tien-shou (陳添壽), deputy director-general of the COA's Fisheries Agency, said at Keelung harbor.

Coastal patrols and fishing boats working in the areas where the accident occurred all joined the rescue operation, Chen said, and were still searching for the missing men.

He said the rescued seamen were mostly in good condition, with only a few of them suffering minor injuries.

The sunken vessel, which set out from Nanfangao (南方澳) in Ilan County on Friday night, was hired to ferry the Chinese fishermen to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, where they were then to board a Chinese ship to return home.

The ship regularly sailed the route, taking Chinese fishermen to and from Taiwan.

The coastguard has ordered the Singapore-registered cargo ship Ku Fu, suspected of causing the collision, to return to Keelung harbor pending further investigation, a coastguard official said.

"The freighter is now docked at Keelung harbor and its captain and crew members have been asked to help in the investigation into the cause of the accident," a harbor official said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND DPA
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