A P-3 “Orion” marine patrol aircraft from a US patrol squadron, as well as the US Coast Guard, took part in the rescue at sea of 10 Taiwanese fishermen on Saturday, 1,120km off the west coast of Guam.
The Honolulu-based Coast Guard District 14 - Sector Guam received an alert from an emergency position-indicating radio beacon from the Taiwanese fishing vessel Hsin Man Chun at about 4:30pm.
After a request for assistance from the US Coast Guard, a P-3 aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 1 “Screaming Eagles” based at Naval Air Facility Misawa in Japan, located 10 crewmembers from the fishing vessel, which had caught fire.
VP-1 spotted eight crew-members in a life raft and two others who were still on the bridge of the burning vessel. The P-3 deployed two life rafts to assist the crew, the US 7th Fleet reported on the US Navy Web site.
At the time of the request for assistance, the Semirio — one of several foreign-flagged vessels operating in the Pacific Ocean as part of the volunteer Automated Mutual-Assistance Rescue System (AMVER) — was about 60km away from the Hsin Man Chun.
Upon reaching the burning vessel, the bulk carrier launched a small boat and rescued all 10 crewmembers.
AMVER, which is sponsored by the US Coast Guard, is a -computer-based voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea.
Through the AMVER compressed message system, rescue coordinators can quickly and easily identify participating ships in the area of distress and divert the best-suited ship or ships to respond.
According to the US Coast Guard, more than 22,000 ships from about 100 countries participate in the program, the origins of which can be traced back to the sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago.
The heads of three major US banks on Wednesday pledged that they would withdraw from the Chinese market if Washington imposed sanctions on Beijing in response to an invasion of Taiwan. JP Morgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser told lawmakers at a hearing of the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services in Washington that the three banks would follow the guidance of the US government to exit China if necessary. The three bankers made the pledge after US Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer asked the three if they
CHINA CRITIC: Prime ministerial candidate Giorgia Meloni, the front-runner in today’s election, said that she would not renew a Belt and Road Initiative deal with Beijing Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, the front-runner to become the country’s next prime minister, is expected to reverse course on Italy’s support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and strengthen ties with Taiwan if a coalition headed by her party wins the country’s general election today. “Without any doubt, if there is a center-right government, it is sure that Taiwan will be an essential concern for Italy,” Meloni told the Central News Agency in an interview. Italians are to vote in a snap election triggered by the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi following a failed attempt to get his coalition partners
HIGH STAKES: An attack on Taiwan could prompt a joint response from the US and Japan, and trigger a global conflict that could bring down the CCP, Liu Tai-ying said The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would not be able to launch an invasion of Taiwan for at least another 10 years, Taiwan Research Institute founder Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) said on Friday. To occupy Taiwan, China needs to transport at least 300,000 to 400,000 troops across the Taiwan Strait during battle, but it would lack the ability to do so for at least another decade, said Liu, a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) treasurer and a close aide to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). The challenges that China would face during an attempted invasion of Taiwan would be even greater than those
HELPING Hand: The government is to provide NT$30,000 in disaster relief to displaced people, while those who have been severely injured would receive NT$250,000 Contingency bus services are transporting rail passengers between Hualien and Taitung counties on the nation’s east coast after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake damaged facilities on Sunday, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday. Until normal train services resume, the bus services would be provided every hour from 6am to 8pm between Hualien and Taitung railway stations, with stops in Jian (吉安), Shoufong (壽豐), Fonglin (鳳林), Guangfu (光復), Ruisuei (瑞穗), Yuli (玉里), Fuli (富里), Chihshang (池上), Guanshan (關山) and Luye (鹿野), the TRA said. While most of the damaged railway tracks would be repaired by today and others by Sunday, Minister of Transportation
RSS