A Hong Kong woman shot in the face during a high-profile hostage situation in the Philippines three years ago was on Thursday discharged from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital following successful reconstructive surgery.
In a press conference, Yik Siu-ling (易小玲), 37, thanked staff at the hospital’s Linkou (林口) branch for the “best present for Christmas and the New Year.”
Yik underwent surgery at the hospital on Dec. 18 and is satisfied with the results after more than 30 attempts to repair her lower jaw.
Photo: CNA
She celebrated her “rebirth” with the seemingly simple act of taking a bite of cake prepared by the hospital — something she could not have done before the surgery.
It “feels really good,” she said, to have finally finished this part of her life after dozens of visits to doctors in Hong Kong and South Korea.
With the operation a success, Yik’s doctors will follow her condition for four to six months and, if she recovers well, could perform an operation for a dental implant, lead doctor Wei Fu-chan (魏福全) said.
A team led by Wei, a leading expert in reconstructive microsurgery, spent more than 10 hours rebuilding Yik’s lower jawbone and the skin tissue on her jaw and neck.
He described the surgery as a “10” on a 1 to 10 scale, largely because of damage left by previous unsuccessful operations.
Yik sustained her injury in August 2010 during a high-profile hostage situation in Manila.
She was one of several people injured when former Filipino police officer Rolando del Rosario Mendoza hijacked a bus full of Hong Kong tourists in a stand-off that ended in a shootout with police.
Eight hostages and Mendoza lost their lives, and Yik was left with a fractured lower jaw bone after being hit by a bullet.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
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
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