■ SHIPPING
Whirlpool behind sinking?
A Panama-registered ship may have sunk in a whirlpool last Tuesday, dragging down as many as 27 crew members within five minutes after the freighter was struck by a giant wave off the northern coast, the Coast Guard Administration said yesterday. The ship was carrying iron ore and an Indonesian crew of 28. One crew member was found alive, clinging to his life vest, on Wednesday. "A whirlpool effect is possible," a coast guard spokesman said after hearing the survivor's account. "Some of the sailors couldn't put on their lifejackets in time, so there are some who didn't make it up." Although the coast guard normally calls off searches within 72 hours, it has extended its hunt for the ship to a seventh day, using 12 boats and a helicopter.
■ WEATHER
Low temperatures forecast
Temperatures will fall today as the seasonal wind from the northeast gets stronger, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said a cold front is expected to arrive on Saturday. Forecaster Hsiao Chia-sen (蕭家森) said the weather in the north and northeastern regions started to become cool and humid yesterday. He said showers may occur in the north, northeast and the east of the nation. Temperatures are likely to rise tomorrow as the seasonal wind is likely to weaken, he said.
■ CROSS-STRAIT TIES
New Kinmen group planned
Civic activists on Kinmen will form an association to provide emergency disaster relief and first aid services across the Taiwan Strait, former Kinmen deputy commissioner Yen Ta-jen (顏達仁) said yesterday. He said the association was needed because of the growing amount of cross-strait boat travel between Kinmen and Xiamen in China. He said the group would provide assistance to people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Yen said the association would be established before the end of this month. Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李柱烽) supports the group, he said. An initial meeting of the association was heldon Sunday at the Hongbo Ceramics Factory, he said. "As direct shipping services between Kinmen and Fujian have become more popular, civic groups need to establish an emergency disaster relief and medical service," he said, adding that he believes the government will ease its policy on cross-strait travel. The number of people traveling between the two sides of the Strait was expected to increase to between 1 million and 2 million per year, Lee said. The new group would work with the Kinmen County Red Cross Organization and the Kinmen-Matsu Cross-Strait Interaction Association to provide emergency services, he said.
■ RESEARCH
Healthy hosiery invented
Industrial Technology Research Institute staffers have invented stockings that can repel mosquitos and socks that reduce the chance of developing a fungal infection, the institute said yesterday. "The stockings release an odor that repels mosquitos, but human beings cannot notice the smell. So women get fewer mosquito bites," a researcher said. The key was adding mosquito repellent during the dyeing process, he said. The institute has also invented socks which can reduce the chance of developing "Hong Kong foot." "We add an anti-bacterial agent into the material of the socks ... during the dyeing process. The agent restrains the growth of mildew and bacteria," he said.
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