A freighter owned by Asia Cement Corp (
According to Coast Guard Administration officers, the Asia Cement No. 5 (亞泥五號) spilled waste fuel oil when it was 9.26km off the coast of Kuanyin township, Tao-yuan County.
The freighter, laden with cement, was on its way from Hualien Harbor to Taichung Harbor.
The Coast Guard's air scouts took photographs and a video of the freighter, which was followed by a 5km strip of oil floating on the surface of the ocean.
The scouts soon notified their local unit in Hsinchu to hold up the freighter.
"The captain and his crew members admitted when we were on board to interrogate them that some waste fuel oil had been secretly discharged," Hsieh Chia-bin (謝嘉賓), a Coast Guard officer told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The captain reportedly attributed the spill to undiscovered cracks in pipes and said the amount of oil spilled was about 30 liters.
His excuse, however, failed to convince Coast Guard officers because the amount of oil floating on the surface of the sea was much more than 30 liters.
Hsieh said that the video and samples of polluted sea water were handed over to the EPA on June 13 for further analysis, in accordance with the Ocean Pollution Control Act.
"According to he Ocean Pollution Control Act, the ship owner will be fined from NT$300,000 to NT$1.5 million," said Lin Chien-hui (
Lin told the Times yesterday that it was unnecessary to clean the polluted area because oil evaporates quickly.
Lin also said that EPA officials had no idea just how much oil was spilled.
Lin said that the Asia Cement No. 5 case was the first one involving a Taiwanese freighter spilling oil since the Ocean Pollution Control Act took effect in November 2000.
In January last year, the Greek-registered MV Amorgos, on its way from Indonesia to China, ran aground in bad weather near Kenting National Park.
Four days later, 1,150 tonnes of fuel oil began to spill and contaminated 6,987m2 of coastline.
In April this year, Taiwan received NT$61.3 million in compensation for the cleanup of the spill.
The EPA is seeking NT$900 million in compensation for damages and lawyers' fees.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe