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Son blames weather bureau for father's death

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hsu Shao-ping, second right, gestures while saying that an allegedly inaccurate weather report released by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) was responsible for the death of a fishing boat captain off Badouzih, Keelung. Hsu is joined at a press conference in the legislature by Daniel Wu from the CWB, right, and the deceased boat captain's son, Wei Teh-cheng, second left. PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The son of a fishing boat captain who died on Wednesday in seas off Badouzih (八斗子), Keelung City, yesterday accused the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) of producing an inaccurate weather report which he said led to his father's death.

"We learned from the weather report on TV that the wind strength off Badouzih would drop to five [on the Beaufort Scale] in the afternoon, However, it didn't weaken. On the contrary, it got stronger," Wei Cheng-Tei (魏德成) said.

His father, Wei Kuo-chih (魏國智), was the captain of a fishing boat carrying three other men. The boat apparently capsized due to strong winds, causing three deaths with one crew member still unaccounted for.

He made the accusation at a press conference in the legislature hosted by Chinese National Party (KMT) lawmaker Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍).

The Secretary-General of the Keelung Fishermen's Association Hsieh Fan-tung (謝藩東) said that Wei Kuo-chih was an experienced captain. "He had 50-years of sailing experience and was lauded by other fishermen in Keelung."

Daniel Wu (吳德榮), director of the forecast center, rebutted the accusation.

"We said that there would be strong winds on Tuesday, and we repeated this yesterday. We also called on fishermen to pay attention to this," he said.

"According to the weather report, the strength of average gust was seven and the maximum gust speed was nine which could weaken to five," he said.

Hsu asked Wu to find out why the weather report people heard from the media was not the same as the CWB forecasted.

"The CWB must take responsibility for not being able to supervise whether the media broadcast the weather report accurately," Hsu said.

"There is room for improvement in communications between the CWB and the media ... especially in terms of providing weather information to fishermen," Wu said.
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