Relatives of crew members of a gravel ship which vanished off Taiwan's east coast in late February urged the government yesterday to help solve the myster-ious disappearance of the vessel.
They said the matter has been "buried" by authorities because of its political sensitivity.
But after a review of the case by officials, military officers and lawmakers yesterday, questions remained.
"We feel helpless. The incident occurred just before the presidential election, so the authorities concerned in Hualien told us to keep quiet at the time." said Chen Mei-hua (
"All we want to know is the fate of the 21 crew members," she said.
"It's pointless talking to us, as civilians, about so-called `national security.' All we want to know is if our loved ones died -- we want to know exactly where the ship sank, and if it strayed from its original planned course," Chen said.
The 4,010-tonne Hualien No 1, with 14 Taiwanese and seven Burmese hands on board, left Hualien Port off the east coast of Taiwan at 5:30pm on Feb. 28, carrying in its hold a cargo of 5,380 tonnes of gravel.
The vessel was scheduled to dock at Tamshui on the northern tip of Taiwan at 7am the following day, but it never reached its destination.
A joint search effort by the military and coastal police over the past three months has found no trace of the missing vessel, nor was the coastal police radar able to track the ship.
Cheng Hsien Kuang (
"A vessel within range of the radar system appears on the screen as just a spot. We are unable to discern exactly which vessel is which [if there is more than one spot on the screen]," Cheng said.
PFP legislator Lee Ching-an (李慶安), who organized yesterday's press conference, said agencies involved in the investigation of the disappearance should not have linked the case to political considerations.
Citing a paragraph from a case report by the CGA's General Maritime Patrol Agency, Lee said: "The search operation coincided with the presidential election, and our proper handling of the situation prevented the case from becoming a political one."
"But why talk about political considerations when what was at stake was 21 lives?" Lee asked, calling attention to what she said were `suspicious points' in the case.
"If the ship sank, why didn't its transponder send out an automatic distress signal, and why didn't one of a dozen crew members who had cellular phones call for help?" Lee asked.
Agencies in China and Japan, denied the possibility that the vessel had been hijacked when contacted by Taiwan's CGA, Lee said.
As well, Chunghwa Telecom Co records show that the last signal recorded from crew member Chu Hsi-chin's (朱習勤) mobile phone was transmitted in the vicinity of Tamshui, proving that the vessel had reached the northern tip of Taiwan before it disappeared.
But Yuan Shan-houn (
Daniel Cheng (
Cheng also ruled out the possibility that the vessel had sunk. "If it did sink and it failed to send out a distress signal, the 30 tonnes of diesel it contained would have surfaced on the water. But no trace of a fuel slick has been reported," Cheng said.
Cheng said the ship's captain, Chou Chih-yun (
But Chou's mobile phone then became unreachable, a situation Cheng said was "abnormal."
Despite promises from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications that it will supervise related agencies until the case is solved, relatives said they would wait and see.
"All I heard today was `I don't know' or `I'm not sure,'" said Fann Lie-pyng (
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