Three Nauruan fishermen who were lost at sea for 11 days and survived on the blood and meat of a shark will get a taste of the high life on Thursday when they hitch a lift back home with Vice President Annette Lu (
The trio were found by a Taiwanese fishing boat off the coast of Papua New Guinea on Jan. 13, about 1,600km from where they were fishing when their runabout broke down earlier in the month.
Stevie Notte, 38, Gabriel Mwareow, 32, and Solomon Tom, 25, had only left the Pacific island of Nauru for a day's fishing and had little food and no water with them.
PHOTO: AFP
As they drifted helplessly for 11 days with only a small piece of board to hold up as protection from the sun, they caught one tuna and one shark for food, Notte said.
"We drank the blood of the shark, we were so thirsty," he said.
When there was a brief shower of rain, he said, "we licked the boat to get water."
Nauruan officials asked the Australian navy to assist with the initial search and Notte said that on the fourth and fifth days adrift they saw aircraft flying overhead, but could not attract the pilots' attention.
"What kept me alive was my children. I kept thinking about them. I couldn't die at sea with them waiting for me. I had to try my best to stay alive," Notte said.
On the 11th day, when they saw the fishing boat in the distance, they started a small fire in their aluminum boat so the fishing boat crew would see the smoke.
The Fong Seong 767 dropped a small boat over the side to rescue them and kept the Nauruans on board until it docked in Majuro in the Marshall Islands last week to offload its cargo of tuna.
Taiwanese ambassador in Majuro, Bruce Linghu (
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS