A fisherman in the south was rescued by the coast guard yesterday morning after his boat lost power and the strong currents dragged him out to sea around Lanyu (蘭嶼) to drift for four days.
Ku Tien-fu (古添福), from a seashore harbor in Manzhou Township (滿州) on the southern Hengchung Peninsula (恆春), said he depended on nearshore trawl fishing for his livelihood.
The 62-year-old headed out to sea late last week, but after two days without contact, his family turned to the local authorities for assistance.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times, courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
He rode a motorized fishing raft, a small boat operated by one person, but ran into trouble when the raft’s motor battery lost power.
“My boat was not equipped with telecommunication devices, so I could not make calls to report on my situation,” Ku said.
For four days, he drifted on the Pacific Ocean, off the eastern coastline.
“At one time, I saw some large ocean freighters going to a large harbor, which I believed was the Port of Hualien. The currents pulled me northward then southward. I sighted Lanyu twice as my boat drifted back and forth,” he added.
Ku said he survived on the bottled water he had brought, and ate some of the red sea bream fish that he caught.
He tied red plastic bags to the mast to attract attention.
“I saw other ships passing by, and also helicopters overhead, but they did not spot my vessel. Later, one fishing boat came very near, but it left my vicinity without making contact,” Ku said.
After 80 hours adrift in the Pacific, Ku was spotted yesterday morning by an alert naval security officer Chang Chao-kai (張喬凱), who searched the sea with his binoculars, as he was based at a coastal station near Pingtung County’s Syuhai Village (旭海).
Chang said he spotted an unknown vessel offshore, so he called up a Coast guard Administration (CGA) patrol boat, which was searching for Ku in the waters off Taitung County. The patrol boat located Ku, about 15km from the shore, and towed his raft back to a local harbor in Pingtung County.
A CGA spokesperson said that after receiving the request from Ku’s family, the rescue operation mobilized with 242 personnel on two large patrol ships and 19 motorized patrol boats, as well as four reconnaissance airplane sorties.
Ku said he was very grateful for the rescue effort by the coast guard. Found weak and suffering from fatigue and dehydration, Ku was transported to a hospital for treatment in Hengchung, where he is recuperating from the ordeal.
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