A salvage mission to locate and retrieve the black box of a missing Mirage 2000 fighter jet is to resume next week pending good weather, after poor weather conditions rendered unsuccessful an attempt this week, an unnamed air force official said yesterday.
The official said that Dragon Prince Hydro-Survey Enterprise, the Kaohsiung-based company that won the contract for the mission, embarked on the first marine salvage mission on Monday last week.
However, due to poor weather conditions and heavy seas, the team moored in Keelung Port on Wednesday last week empty-handed, the official said.
The contractor factored in safety conditions and poor visibility before deciding to to suspend the mission, the official said.
The mission is scheduled to resume next week if the weather permits, the official said.
Since the airplane’s disappearance 25 days ago, the air force has located a signal 145km north-northeast of Keelung that is similar to the signal emitted by a Mirage 2000 black box.
There have been no further developments in attempts to retrieve the black box of the jet piloted by Captain Ho Tzu-yu (何子雨) since it went missing on Nov. 7.
The Control Yuan filed an application on Nov. 20 to look into the case, aiming to determine whether the aircraft’s disappearance was caused by mechanical failure or human error.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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