Search-and-rescue efforts continued yesterday to find the five fishermen who were still missing after the fishing boat Shih Hui No. 31 capsized following a collision with the cargo ship Asia Cement No. 2 on Friday, the Marine and Port Bureau said.
The bureau said that another fishing boat, Jinreyi No. 36, found a body off the coast of Juwei (竹圍) yesterday, near the location where the Shih Hui No. 31 capsized. The body was scheduled to be transferred back to Jenbin Fishing Port (正濱漁港) in Keelung as of press time last night, where the prosecutor would determine if it was one of the victims killed in the shipwreck.
Divers on Saturday had recovered bodies of four of the nine missing fishermen, including 66-year-old Taiwanese captain Chi Wan-te (紀萬得), as well as one Indonesian and two Chinese fishermen.
The Asia Cement No. 2 belongs to the U-Ming Marine Transport Corp of Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group. The bureau said that the owner of Shih Hui No. 31, as well as representatives from U-Ming Marine Transport, Keelung City Government, China Marine Surveyors and Sworn Measurers’ Corp, Coast Guard Administration, Shipowners Mutual Protection Association, Tahan Shipping Co and Keelung Area Fishermen’s Association had reached an agreement yesterday afternoon to tug the capsized boat back to the Port of Taipei for further investigation.
A statement from U-Ming said that it would not respond to any speculation on the possible causes of the accident before the bureau concludes the official investigation. The company would fully cooperate with the bureau and disclose information about the accident after the investigation is completed, the statement said.
Officials would analyze a wide range of data collected from the ships’ logbooks and their navigational recorders, and interview the crew members to determine the cause of the accident, the bureau said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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