The body of a submarine captain who was swept into the sea during a drill two days ago was recovered early yesterday after an intensive search, military authorities said.
Chen Chi-tsung (陳紀宗), captain of the Hai Lung, was swept off the vessel’s conning tower by waves on Monday night.
His body was found in the sea 3.1 nautical miles (5.7km) southwest of Zuoying (左營) naval base near Kaohsiung at 7:45am, naval sources said.
PHOTO: CNA
“His body was intact, which helped to identify him,” Navy Command Headquarters Spokesman Sun Yi-cheng (孫宜成) said.
Chen’s body was taken to Zuoying Military Hospital, where military prosecutors Lin Chao-chan (林昭展) and Liao Jung-chi (廖容吉) examined it and issued a death certificate.
“He drowned. There was no obvious wound or cut on his body,” said Huang Hsin-chang (黃心章), spokesman for the southern branch of the Military Prosecutors’ Office.
Chen’s body was then taken to the morgue of a naval hospital, where a makeshift funeral hall was set up for his superiors and colleagues to pay their last respects.
“Military authorities deeply regret the captain’s tragic death,” Navy Commanding General Admiral Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) said after presiding over a memorial service in which Chen was accorded full military honors.
As the 47-year-old captain died while serving his country, Kao said the military will offer compensation to the bereaved family.
Chen had served in the Navy since 1988.
Kao said the Navy would review its standard operating procedures to prevent similar tragedies.
The Navy has learned a painful lesson from this tragedy and will improve safety measures, Sun said.
In future, all naval personnel working on the decks of warships or on the raised observation towers of submarines will be required to put on a life jacket and safety line hooked to the hull of the vessel, Sun said.
Rough weather was believed to have been a factor in Chen’s death, but the Navy is conducting a thorough investigation into the incident, Sun said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS