Investigators have made a breakthrough in their quest to find out how the captain and crew vanished from a Taiwanese fishing boat found drifting on the high seas off Australia's northwest coast, news reports said yesterday.
Local calls made in Bali and in the Philippines were from mobile phones belonging to the captain and first mate, both of whom are Taiwanese.
The phones might have been taken by pirates or mutineers, according to Australia's AAP news agency, which quoted Taiwanese sources about the phone records of the two missing sailors.
The Indonesian-flagged vessel also had 10 Indonesian crew members.
Australian investigators are trying to piece together the movements of the High Aim 6 between Oct. 31, when it left the port of Liuchiu in Taiwan, and Jan. 8, when it was boarded by navy personnel 250km off the west coast of Broome in Western Australia.
There was plenty of fuel, as well as food and water, on the modern long-line fishing boat when it was boarded. There was no sign of a struggle and no evidence that lifeboats were laun-ched. Personal belongings were also found on the 130-tonne vessel, including seven toothbrushes.
A catch of rotting fish in the hold was taken as evidence that the High Aim 6 was a legitimate fishing vessel.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
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