Two Taiwanese fishing boat captains are feared dead as they were not on board when their boats, which had gone missing, were found by the Indonesian Navy on Thursday.
Several officials with Taiwan’s representative office in Indonesia are assisting Indonesian police in the investigations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said, adding that the ministry couldn’t confirm the two captains’ deaths until Indonesian authorities did.
“We can only confirm that the two boats were found, but not the two captains. The crew members of the two boats are under interrogation, and our people are there to help with the investigation,” Chen said.
Chen said the ministry had assisted the families of Lee Ruei-lung (李瑞隆), captain of the Sheng-yi Tsai 166, and Chen Ying-chung (陳盈忠), captain of the Chen Fu-hsiang 16, upon their arrival in Indonesia.
The Sheng-yi Tsai 166, with ten Indonesian fishermen on board, lost contact with Taiwan on March 22, while the Chen Fu-hsiang 16 had not made contact since April 14, when it was operating in an area south of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.
INVESTIGATIONS
Commenting on the Chen Fu-hsiang 16, Indonesian Admiral Didit Herdiawan was quoted by Indonesia’s VIVAnews as saying that “according to the initial assessment, some of the suspects have allegedly committed murder. We’ll carry out further investigation on that.”
Chen Jung-yuan (陳榮源), Chen Ying-chung’s brother, told reporters that he hoped the Indonesian crew members would be brought to Taiwan for trial.
Chen Jung-yuan said that in past cases when Indonesian crew members were found guilty of killing Taiwanese captains, they were seldom given heavy sentences by their government and some even changed their names and went back to work in other Taiwanese fishing vessels after they were released.
SIMILAR CASES
Fisheries Agency Director-General James Sha (沙志一) yesterday said there have been similar cases where boats were found on the sea with their captains missing.
Sha said there were on average two or three cases per year in which Taiwanese captains were killed by Indonesian crew members they recruited.
Sha said Indonesian courts have had mixed success in convicting Indonesian crew members suspected of killing Taiwanese captains.
“Some were indicted, while some were not. Indonesian authorities have had difficulties convicting crew members as they say the captains jumped into the sea by themselves,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of extraditing accused Indonesian crew members in the absence of an extradition agreement between Taiwan and Indonesia, Henry Chen said the ministry would try to meet the expectations of families of the captains and the ships’ owners.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS