The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has sought assistance from the UK government to search for five Filipino crew members who have been missing after a Taiwan-registered fishing boat caught fire on Monday last week off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
Sixty-four of the 69 people on board the fishing boat named Jun Rong (俊榮號) were rescued and taken to safety in Port Montevideo, Uruguay, but the other five, all confirmed to be Filipinos, have not been found, Kaohsiung’s Marine Bureau said yesterday.
Rescue personnel from the Falkland Islands will continue to search for the missing crew members, it said.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of the Maritime Port Bureau
Jun Rong (俊榮) fishing company, which owns the Kaohsiung-registered boat, will try to help the 64 rescued people return to their home countries, the bureau said, adding that it would provide any assistance necessary.
The crew on the 998-tonne fishing boat comprised four Taiwanese, 22 Filipinos, 28 Indonesians, one Chinese, nine Vietnamese and five Burmese, the bureau said.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday last week issued a statement saying it remained hopeful that the five missing Filipinos would be found.
Officials at the Philippine embassy in the UK are coordinating with British authorities over the incident, the Maritime Bulletin reported on Friday.
Falkland Island authorities have confirmed that the Taiwanese boat caught fire about 110km north of the capital, Stanley, the South Atlantic News Agency Merco Press reported on Tuesday last week.
The cause of the fire was still unknown, the Taiwan Tuna Purse Seiners Association said yesterday.
TAIWAN PROTECTION MEASURE: US Army General Charles Flynn would not say where in the Asia-Pacific the missiles would be sent, but only that they would arrive in 2024 The US is to send medium-range missiles including the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk to the Asia-Pacific next year to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, US military news Web site Defense One reported. The report cited comments US Army General Charles Flynn made during the annual Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 19. “We have tested them and we have a battery or two of them today,” Flynn was quoted as saying. “In [20]24. We intend to deploy that system in your region. I’m not going to say where and when. But I will just say that we will
UNUSUAL UPTICK: There are more flu-like illnesses in northern China than in the past 3 years, but data from Beijing showed that known pathogens are responsible Responding to an uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it has instructed international airport and port quarantine centers to raise their alert levels, and plans to issue an alert to healthcare practitioners. The number of flu-like illnesses reported in northern China has been increasing for five consecutive weeks, and is higher than the same period in the past three years, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said. “According to the WHO’s latest statement, issued yesterday, information provided by Chinese government showed that the illnesses were mainly reported among children, and the illnesses were attributed
LOYALTY: The 10 active and retired soldiers betrayed the nation and its people by leaking and passing on military secrets to China, the High Prosecutors’ Office said Ten former and current military officers were yesterday indicted on charges of spying for China, including two who allegedly filmed themselves pledging loyalty to Beijing. The High Prosecutors’ Office requested life imprisonment for the suspects in light of the severity of the crime. The 10 active-duty and retired officers included members of the 601st Brigade of the Aviation Special Forces comprising attack helicopter squadrons and elite combat units in charge of defending northern Taiwan, including Taipei. The other suspects came from Huadong Defense Command, in charge of defending the eastern coast; Kinmen Defense Command, in charge of defending Kinmen and Matsu; and one
‘OPEN TO DIALOGUE’: Her alliance with Vice President William Lai is based on their commitment to preserve the nation’s freedom and democracy, Hsiao Bi-khim said Taiwan should “trust, but verify” reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) denied that Beijing plans to invade Taiwan in 2027, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice presidential candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told reporters yesterday. “We anticipate and we hope that Chairman Xi Jinping was sincere when he said there was no timetable” for bringing Taiwan under control by force, said Hsiao, who earlier this week resigned as the representative to the US to join the ticket of DPP nominee, Vice President William Lai (賴清德). Borrowing a phrase from former US president Ronald Reagan — which US President Joe Biden also used after
RSS