Argentina has agreed to send a military vessel to help search for a Taiwanese fishing boat with a crew of 49 that has been missing since Feb. 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
“Argentina is set to dispatch a military vessel to join the search for the Taiwanese boat,” ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said. “The vessel will reach the area where the boat was reported missing in four days time at the earliest.”
The boat lost contact in waters off southeastern Argentina. It was carrying two Taiwanese, 11 Chinese, 13 Filipino, 21 Indonesian and two Vietnamese, the ministry said.
The boat was 1,500 nautical miles (2,778km) from Argentina and 1,700 nautical miles from the British-controlled Falkland Islands when it last made contact, the Fisheries Agency said, adding that it might have lost power.
Upon receiving a report from the Fisheries Agency and the National Rescue Command Center on Feb. 26, the ministry said it immediately asked its representative office in Argentina to seek help from the Argentine Navy to look for the boat.
The ministry said the nation’s representative office in the UK has also asked the British authorities and the EU Naval Force for help.
At the same time, a Taiwanese fishing boat and other local fishing boats operating nearby are helping with the search.
Britain maintains sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia in the South Atlantic, close to Argentina.
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