Two fishermen from Penghu were rescued and brought to Taichung Port yesterday after drifting at sea for seven days after their boat lost power.
Su Yao-shun (蘇耀順) and his son Su Chia-chang (蘇茄璋) landed at Taichung Port at 4pm aboard a Taichung Coast Guard Squadron patrol.
Meanwhile their fishing boat with its dead engine was towed into the port by another fishing vessel.
The second fishing vessel had spotted the drifting boat about 20 nautical miles (37km) off the coast of Hsinchu at 9am.
The boat alerted a local fishermen’s radio station, which then appealed to the Taichung coast guard squadron for help.
The Sus left their home port in Penghu on Monday to go fishing off the coast, but their engine developed problems and died later that day.
Their family asked the Penghu Coast Guard Squadron for help finding them after they failed to return as expected on Thursday.
The two Sus were in good condition when they arrived at Taichung Port, where 14 family members were waiting for them after being notified by the coast guard of their rescue.
Su Yao-shun said that they had seen nine fishing boats during their seven-day ordeal at sea and had fired signal flares to indicate their situation, but they were ignored until yesterday morning.
The father and son said that they survived by eating instant noodles and drinking water from blocks of ice they had onboard.
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