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.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be