While rescuers in Nantou County struggle to find the bodies of 15 people who were swept to their deaths when Typhoon Morakot hit the country, several bodies suspected to be among the victims have been discovered floating in the sea off northern Taiwan.
Early on the morning of Aug. 9, people in seven cars fell into the Chuoshuei River (濁水溪) in Nantou County when raging water from the torrential rain eroded the riverbank alongside Highway 16.
Nantou firefighters and rescuers only found six bodies and the wreckage of six cars on the riverbed after the water receded near Dacheng Township (大城) in neighboring Changhua County where the river flows into the sea.
As many as six bodies, however, have been discovered floating off the shores of northern Taiwan in recent days and police suspect they could be the bodies of the Nantou victims.
Police sources said that a body discovered in the sea about 20km off Yilan County on Wednesday was identified by Nantou victim Yeh Hsin-cheng’s (葉信承) wife.
Upon learning of the news, Yeh’s wife first checked a photo of the body at Jiji Township (集集) Police Headquarters and then went to Yilan on Saturday to confirm it was her husband’s body.
Although the face was unidentifiable, Yeh recognized tattoos of a tiger on the right arm, an eagle on the right thigh and a Japanese samurai on the left leg.
A Coast Guard officer said Yeh’s body had floated nearly 400km from where he fell into the water.
Coastal and Offshore Resources Research Center Director Wu Lung-ching (吳龍靜) said Yeh’s body could have been carried by the Kuroshio current that flows through the Taiwan Strait to the northeast coast.
Wu said the current, which comes from the south, divides into two, with one current flowing through the Taiwan Strait and the other along the Pacific coast.
Therefore, bodies floating along Taiwan’s western coast were very likely to end up on the northern or northeastern coast, Wu said.
Five other bodies — three male and two female — have been discovered in the sea off the coast of Bitoujiao (鼻頭角), Tamsui (淡水) and Yehliou (野柳) in Taipei County, as well as near Hsinchu and Keelung.
Family members of the Nantou victim Chang Hsiu-mei (張秀美) suspect that a body found near Bitoujiao could be Chang’s, but further confirmation is still required.
The corpse found floating near Tamsui yesterday was a female, about 40 years old and 160m tall. Police believe the body had been in the water since about Aug. 8 and could be the body of a Nantou victim.
Police authorities in Nantou said that they would collect DNA samples from the Nantou victims’ families so that it would be easier to confirm the identity of any bodies found in the future.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2