An extensive search and rescue effort continued yesterday for eight scuba divers missing in waters off Kenting National Park, but none had been found as of press time.
The Coast Guard Administration has been searching for the missing divers since Saturday afternoon.
Yesterday morning six cutters searched eight areas near where the group went missing. Four helicopters from an airborne police unit and six coast guard patrol boats scoured waters near Chihsingyen (Seven Star Rock), a popular diving spot off Kenting National Park.
PHOTO: TSAI TSUNG-HSIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Coast guard official Hsu Yung-kang (徐永康) told reporters that the search would last at least 72 hours.
The anxious families of the missing divers have been gathered in a small seaport near Kenting since Saturday evening. Yesterday they hired several tourist boats so they could personally join the search along with more than 20 fishing boats that also volunteered.
Hsu said the coast guard was focusing on waters off Taitung County in particular, because the strong current might have carried the missing divers to the northeast.
The seven divers — five men and two women — plus a diving coach were reported missing while scubadiving in waters near Chihsingyen, 22km southwest of Kenting, Pingtung County.
They left for Chihsingyen along with four other people aboard a yacht early on Saturday morning. The 12 began diving in waters between Oluanbi and Chihsingyen at 10:30am and were supposed to return to the yacht at 11:30am.
However, eight of them failed to return to the yacht on schedule. The yacht’s skipper could not locate the missing divers and reported the case to the Hengchun coast guard.
The yacht’s skipper Liu Chung-yu (劉中裕) returned to Kenting in the evening.
He told the officers that he had located the divers near his yacht by the bubbles produced by their exhaled breath but the bubbles suddenly disappeared and the divers did not return.
The coast guard said the eight are all experienced divers.
In an accident in the same area nine years ago, six divers were washed away by strong ocean currents, but four were rescued after 30 hours.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday ordered an all-out effort to find the missing divers.
Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said that Chang urged rescue workers not to give up.
He also called on the general public to be careful when taking part in outdoor activities, particularly refraining from diving in dangerous waters, Shieh said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS