Coast Guard Administration personnel yesterday morning joined Chinese rescuers to search for a Chinese fisher who fell overboard near Lienchiang County (Matsu), a day after Taiwanese and Chinese crews launched a separate search for the crew of a boat that capsized near Kinmen County.
The coast guard deployed vessels early yesterday to assist in a search-and-rescue mission involving a Chinese fisher who fell overboard while apparently walking on the edge of his boat.
Coast guard personnel based in Lienchiang were made aware of the incident at 12:30am by the Lienchiang Economic Development Department.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
A 26-year-old fisherman working on the Min Lian Yu No. 60911, a Chinese fishing vessel, is believed to have fallen overboard while walking around the perimeter of the boat’s deck on Thursday afternoon, a source said.
The fisherman lost his footing about 5km east of Lienchiang County’s Sanlian Islets (三連嶼) east of Beigan Island (北竿).
Others on the boat initially attempted to locate the man on their own, to no avail, before reporting the incident to Chinese authorities, the source said.
China reported the case to Taiwan, which sent coast guard vessels to the area to assist in search-and-rescue operations, Matsu Coast Guard Captain Hung Wen-chuan (洪文泉) said.
The coast guard expects to work with Chinese authorities on the mission for 72 hours, Hung said.
Meanwhile, the Kinmen Coast Guard deployed ships to help China search for the six crew members of the Chinese fishing boat Min Long Yu 61222, which capsized and sank about 2km southwest of Dongding Island (東碇島) on Thursday.
Dongding Island is the southernmost of Kinmen’s islands, about 26km south of the main island.
The coast guard said the boat had ventured about 500m into Taiwan’s prohibited waters, in which the coast guard is authorized to control the activity of foreign vessels.
Since the joint rescue effort started on Thursday, four crew members have been pulled from the water, with two of them having died.
Search efforts were still under way for the remaining two crew members.
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