The Environmental Protection Administration said yesterday that the owner of an Indonesia-registered cargo ship sunk off Taiwan's coast must remove the wreckage by April next year.
Loaded with 1,000 tonnes of banana oil and 30 tonnes of other oil products, the Dewi Bunyu was wrecked near Taipei Port in July.
Hsu Jen-tse (
The administration has used unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor the wreckage. Their records show that shortly after the accident only a minor oil spill occurred. The ship's owner has employed a third party to help clean up the mess, Hsu said.
However, since floating wreckage might endanger other vessels, the administration has instructed the company to clean up the area as soon as possible.
As the sea is calmer in the spring, which should help facilitate the clean-up process, the administration decided to set an April deadline.
The administration said it has spent NT$3 million (US$92,370) handling the incident and expects to be reimbursed by the the owner of the Dewi Dunyu.
A far more damaging spill occurred when an estimated 1,150 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea after the Amorgos ran aground near Kenting on its way to China on Jan. 14, 2001.
The spillage contaminated coastal areas in Oluanpi and damaged nearby coral reefs.
The failure of the administration to cope adequately with that shipwreck and the oil spillage led to the removal of former administrator Lin Jun-yi (林俊義).
Lin was replaced by Hau Lung-bin (
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during