President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday visited two hospitalized Marine Corps personnel rescued after their vessel overturned during a military exercise in waters off Kaohsiung on Friday.
One of the two marines at the Zuoying branch of the Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital is a male sergeant aged 31, who is in a critical condition and has been on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation life support machine since he was rescued, Tsai said.
She promised the sergeant’s family that the nation would make sure he receives the best medical care and wished him a swift recovery.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The second marine, 24-year-old female Sergeant Chen Jo-ying (陳若盈), is in a stable condition with a minor lung infection, Tsai said.
Tsai also visited the families of Private First Class Tsai Po-yu (蔡博宇) and Staff Sergeant Chen Chih-jung (陳志榮), who passed away on Sunday after the incident.
Tsai expressed her condolences over the families’ loss and promised that the military would take care of them.
The military is conducting a thorough probe into the drill to determine what went wrong and ensure it does not happen again, she said.
A raiding craft with seven marines onboard overturned on Friday off the Kaohsiung coast during an exercise that was a rehearsal for the Han Kuang exercises this month.
All seven were rescued, but four were hospitalized, three with pulmonary edemas, a condition caused by an abnormal amount of fluid in the lungs, the navy said.
Also on Sunday, one of the drill’s supervisors, Navy Lieutenant Commander Yang (楊), apparently committed suicide. Although no suicide note was found, the navy said that Yang might have killed himself because of the incident.
In Taipei, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) yesterday said that a thorough investigation into Friday’s incident was not intended to apportion blame, but rather to identify the reasons for what happened to prevent a recurrence.
Speaking at a meeting with senior military officials, Yen expressed his condolences over the deaths of Tsai Po-yu and Chen Chih-jung.
Calling the two marines “national heroes” while praising the sacrifice they made for their country, Yen urged all Marine Corps members to fulfill their duties during the five-day Han Kuang exercises, which begin on Monday next week.
Despite the fatal incident, Yen said that the nation’s armed forces would not suspend training sessions or lower their standards because of risks.
“Servicemen and women shoulder huge responsibility in protecting the country and only through training in realistic war-like scenarios can they accumulate the required experience and boost combat readiness,” Yen said.
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