A Facebook post yesterday claiming that Far Eastern Air Transport Flight FE-107 bound for Tianjin had vanished in the mountainous areas of New Taipei City’s Pinglin District (坪林) was proven false by the airline, the police said.
Far Eastern Air Transport said it has contacted its lawyers and plans to file a lawsuit for slander and breeching the Civic Aviation Act (民用航空法) against the person who posted the rumor, adding that it would not settle out of court or retract the suit.
According to police, an aviation enthusiast surnamed Kung (龔) yesterday at about noon said on Facebook that Flight FE-107 was only flying 7,000 feet (2,134m) above Pinglin and had sent out a “Mayday” call before disappearing from the radar.
Kung, 16, went to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) and asked Far Eastern Air Transport ground crew whether any of its aircraft had been involved in an accident, causing the baffled staff to contact the Aviation Police Bureau (APB) to request that they look into the matter.
The airline also received calls from the media trying to confirm details, as news of an accident had been circulating on the Internet, causing the company to directly contact the pilot of the aircraft to ascertain its safety and status.
According to Article 105 of the act, spreading false information that might endanger flight safety is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$32,121), the bureau said, adding that violation of Article 30 of the Criminal Code is also punishable by a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to NT$1,000.
Kung said he reposted the information from other sources, adding that it was why he went to Songshan airport to confirm the information and he had no intent of spreading misinformation.
The company said Kung’s explanation was unacceptable, and it would proceed with the case against him.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
RSS