After nearly two days of searching, rescuers yesterday recovered a body from Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) that was later confirmed to be that of a man who went missing during a mass swim on Sunday.
Sin Chin Hong (沈政宏), 27, was a Malaysian engineer at an electronics company in Miaoli County.
His body was found about 400m from the finish line at the Nantou County lake’s Ita Thao Pier (伊達邵碼頭).
Sin and eight colleagues were taking part in the annual 3,300m swim for the first time.
Rescue efforts were launched after Sin’s teammates reported to organizers that he was missing.
Sin was the fourth swimmer to die at the event in its 28-year history. A swimmer died of a suspected heart attack in 1996 and two others drowned in 2007.
Sin’s death may prompt the use of advanced technology to follow the swimmers’ movements, especially as the number of participants has soared. This year’s event attracted 27,123 people.
Organizers said they are mulling the possibility of asking participants to wear a cap with an embedded identification chip or GPS device.
This would help quickly establish if a participant had failed to reach shore, allowing a rescue operation to begin immediately.
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