A fierce fire on a fishing boat in waters off Keelung quickly burned out of control yesterday and forced the evacuation of the vessel’s crew of six who were rescued by a nearby ship and the Coast Guard Administration (CGA).
After being rescued, the owner of the fishing boat, surnamed Yen (嚴), accused the CGA of being slow to react to the blaze, saying that the fire had already been burning for an hour before the agency’s’ fire-fighting craft arrived.
However, CGA officials dismissed the allegation there had been a delay in its emergency response.
The CGA said that it received a call reporting a fire offshore at 9:59am, and immediately prepared CGA’s No. 10050 patrol boat, which left the port at 10:18am, and arrived at the burning vessel at 10:30am.
The Li Fa No 368 trawler had departed Keelung’s Badouzi Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 9am, aiming to fish in waters off Keelung Islet (基隆嶼).
Just before 10am, a fire broke out in the boat’s engine room, and it quickly turned into a major blaze and consumed most of the vessel.
“The blaze enveloped the engine room fast. We tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but it was no use, the fire was too fierce. Myself and rest of the crew gathered at the bow of the boat, because the rest of the vessel was on fire,” captain Hung Chin-te (洪錦德) said.
He said it was lucky for them that there were other vessels nearby, and recreational fishing boat Jie An No 2 picked up all six crewmembers, and returned them to Badouzi Fishing Harbor.
Hung added that as Li Fa No 368 had just begun its day, it contained a full tank of 12,000 liters of fuel, and thus the flames quickly burned out of control.
The CGA said that its No. 10050 patrol boat fought the blaze with water and also doused it with fire-retardant froth sprays, but failed to stop most of the vessel from being destroyed.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS