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CGA comes under fire for `tardy' fishing boat search

The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was criticized for the delay in launching a search for a Taiwanese fishing boat that has been missing in seas near Indonesia since May 4.

"The presence of Typhoon Chanchu and mechanical failure of a CGA ship caused the delay. The CGA ship has now reached the waters where the boat lost contact," said a CGA press statement yesterday.

The CGA said the ship was currently searching for the boat with Indonesian help.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Liou Wan-ju (廖婉汝) said the fishing boat went missing 16 days ago but the CGA ship had only just started searching for the boat yesterday.

"The CGA has ignored the safety of Taiwanese fishermen," added Liou.

Chinese-language newspaper the Apply Daily yesterday quoted a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) source as saying "the ministry was discontented with the CGA's handling of the incident."

The MOFA yesterday said it had contacted the Indonesian government in an attempt to learn whether families of Indonesians working on the missing boat knew where they were.

The Pingtung-based vessel went missing on May 4 in high seas near Indonesia.

The MOFA, the CGA and Council of Agriculture believed that the Taiwanese captain and first mate might have been kidnapped by 11 Indonesians working on the boat.

The CGA said the fishing boat seemed bound for Indonesia before it lost contact.

Although the government asked the CGA to rescue the boat, the CGA failed to send a vessel to look for the boat until May 10.

However, the ship returned to Taiwan on May 11 because of mechanical problems and the impending arrival of Typhoon Chanchu in the seas south of Taiwan.

The CGA said it possesses few ships capable of reaching the region where the fishing boat disappeared due to its distance from Taiwan, and that it was unfortunate that the vessel assigned to the rescue job had to return to port after developing mechanical problems.

The CGA said the ship was repaired and set out again for Indonesian waters again on May 14, and it had just reached waters near Indonesia yesterday morning.

Taiwanese fishing boats usually hire foreign workers, but disputes or incidents have occurred between Taiwanese and their foreign crews.
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