Three more bodies of migrant fishers missing after the Nanfangao Bridge (南方澳橋) collapsed on Tuesday morning, crushing three fishing boats, were found yesterday, bringing the death toll to five, with one person still missing, authorities said yesterday.
Two bodies were recovered from the waters near the collapsed bridge in Suao Township (蘇澳) at about 11pm on Tuesday, the Yilan Fire Bureau said in a statement.
A third body was found at about 1am yesterday, the fourth at 8:40am and the fifth at 2:27pm, it said.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
The victims were identified as 29-year-old Wartono, 32-year-old Ersona and 28-year-old Mohamad Domir, all Indonesians, and two Filipinos, 44-year-old Andree Serencio Abregana and 46-year-old George Impang, the Yilan Emergency Operation Center said.
The bodies were taken to the Su’ao Branch of Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
The search for the last missing fisher, believed to be Filipino Romulo Escalicas, is continuing, the center said.
Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC, 台灣港務) plans to give compensation of NT$5 million (US$160,963) to the families of each fisher who died, TIPC chief secretary Lin Chien-ming (林健明) said.
The 10 people who were injured — including nine migrant fishers and one Taiwanese driver — are to receive NT$10,000 to NT$36,000, Lin said.
Tseng Yen-pu (曾彥博), a representative of Sang Yi International Co, the fishers’ broker, said they were not covered by group accident insurance.
Meanwhile, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) said that its top priority is to recover the remaining missing man.
Some of the victims had relatives working in Taiwan, who went to the scene of the accident, the office said.
The families would also receive financial assistance from the Philippine government, and MECO would assist in the repatriation of the remains, it added.
Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei Representative Didi Sumedi said that his office was still trying to establish contact with the families of killed and injured in the collapse to offer assistance.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday offered its condolences for the deceased to the Philippine and Indonesian offices.
The ministry and its overseas offices would offer assistance needed by the bereaved families, it said, adding that it has been in close contact with the governments of the Philippines and Indonesia as well as the domestic agencies involved in the rescue mission.
The military has deployed a floating platform to help workers remove debris and try to extract two of the boats from under collapsed sections of the bridge. The third boat was pulled out on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
Swedish Member of Parliament Hampus Hagman is pushing for changing the name of the nation’s trade office in Taipei to signal improved relations with “Asia’s perhaps foremost democracy.” Hagman on Wednesday last week proposed renaming the Swedish Trade and Invest Council to “Sweden’s Office in Taipei,” following similar changes by other nations. The Swedish Trade and Invest Council, part of Business Sweden, is owned by the Swedish government and Swedish industry. Taiwan and Sweden share important values such as respect for democracy, human rights, the rule of law and freedom of speech, Hagman said in the motion, adding that the two nations
EFFICIENCY: The rules for Philippine arrivals were revised after 17.6% of arrivals with symptoms tested positive, compared with 0.7% of those with no symptoms Starting today, Chinese spouses who hold a reunion permit can apply to enter Taiwan and travelers without symptoms from the Philippines do not need to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, but are to be tested after a 14-day quarantine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, Chinese who are married to a Taiwanese citizen and hold a reunion permit can apply to the National Immigration Agency for entry into Taiwan. Chinese who are married to a foreign national and hold an accompanied reunion permit
PENGHU INSPECTION: Taiwan cannot let its enemies strut around in its airspace, Tsai said, one day after a Chinese spokesman denied a median line exists in the Taiwan Strait Following China’s assertion on Monday that there is no “median line” in the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday pledged to defend the nation’s airspace during a visit to an air force base in Penghu, saying that Taiwan cannot allow others to flex their military muscle in its territorial airspace. Tsai praised the “heroic performance” of the pilots of the Indigenous Defense Fighters who have been intercepting Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes in recent days. “I have a lot of confidence in you. As soldiers of the Republic of China [ROC], how could we let enemies strut
TWO CASES: The five allegedly conspired with conglomerates, threatening the nation’s governance and subverting the rules of ethical conduct, a deputy chief prosecutor said Taipei prosecutors yesterday charged three legislators and one former lawmaker with contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) in a case linked to former Pacific Distribution Investment Co (太平洋流通) chairman Lee Heng-lung’s (李恆隆) battle with the Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) over ownership of the Pacific SOGO Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) chain, while independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) was indicted in a separate case involving two funeral services companies and a plot of land in a national park. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and former New Power Party legislator
RSS