A violent clash erupted on the sea off Keelung yesterday, when Taiwanese fishermen injured 7 Chinese fishermen hired by other Taiwanese fishing boats.
According to the coast guard, the violence was the result of Taiwanese fishermen taking revenge for a boat collision that happened on Sunday. The Taiwanese fishermen were from Suao (蘇澳), Ilan (宜蘭) County.
The coast guard said that the Suao fishing boat Man Fu Lai (滿福來), while fishing near Keelung on Sunday afternoon, collided with a "floating dorm" (海上旅館), the Min Chiang No. 1 (民強一號), which houses Chinese fishermen. In the struggle which followed, some Taiwanese sailors were beaten up and the Chinese, who were armed, seized the captain of the Man Fu Lai and demanded compensation for damage to the floating dorm, the coast guard said.
PHOTO: YANG PAI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
Floating dorms are boats anchored offshore which have undergone refits and are used to accommodate Chinese workers hired by the Taiwanese fishing industry.
The Chinese laborers are not allowed to land in Taiwan so their employers pick them up on the way to the fishing grounds.
The Min Chiang No. 1 houses some 80 Chinese fishermen, according to the Keelung Fishermen's Association.
In the Sunday collision, the Keelung coast guard intervened and the two sides reached a settlement. The agreement said that the owner of the floating dorm would pay the medical expenses of the injured Suao sailors and the Man Fu Lai would provide compensation for damage sustained to the floating dorm.
Apparently still bearing a grudge against the Chinese fishermen, however, the Man Fu Lai revisited the scene yesterday morning in the company of two other Suao boats, with around 30 people in total on board.
A Taiwanese manager of the floating dorm who witnessed the fight said it was "appalling."
"It was really vicious. They just came and beat people like mad with glass bottles and iron bars. They even shot people with flares. They could have killed somebody," said a witness who had been repairing the damage done to the floating dorm in the previous incident at the time of yesterday's attack.
He said the Suao sailors announced that they were only going to beat fishermen from China, not Taiwan, so he was spared.
The Suao sailors attacked indiscriminately, regardless of whether their victims had been involved in the previous day's incident, according to the coast guard.
The witness said he asked the Chinese fishermen not to hit back. "Otherwise the situation would have been much worse," he said.
Seven Chinese fishermen were later taken to the hospital by coast guard personnel, one with a broken leg. A Suao sailor was also injured in the fight.
Keelung coast guard personnel were still questioning people from both sides as of press time last night.
Due to the large number of people involved, it will take some time to investigate the whole incident and decide how many Suao sailors to charge, a coast guard officer said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
RSS