Kinmen prosecutors have decided not to indict two Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officers connected with the deaths of two Chinese nationals in a capsizing incident in February due to insufficient evidence.
The unnamed and unregistered Chinese boat, which had four people on board, was spotted by a CGA patrol vessel on Feb. 14 in Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Kinmen.
The Chinese boat fled after refusing a coast guard patrol vessel’s request to board it, resulting in a high-speed chase which ended when the vessel made a sudden turn, collided with the CGA patrol vessel and capsized, leading to the deaths of two Chinese crew members.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Following the incident, two of the four Taiwanese on the patrol vessel — the captain, surnamed Huang (黃), and the helmsman, surnamed Tsai (蔡) — were investigated for alleged negligent homicide.
The Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement on Friday that it had decided not to indict Huang and Tsai on any charge.
The other two personnel on the patrol boat were not under investigation, because prosecutors felt the two had no say in the movements of the vessel.
Defending its decision, the office said the pursuit occurred within Taiwanese waters, where the Chinese boat had no right to be without permission, and that the CGA officers acted in accordance with established rules.
The collision did not exceed legal risk limits, as a forensic analysis found that the damage on the port side of the Chinese boat was caused by friction and compression, and did not indicate deliberate damage, the office said.
The finding was also supported by the accounts of the surviving Chinese fishers, who in February after the incident occurred said their boat was an unlicensed “black boat.”
The survivors said they did not believe the boat capsized due to the collision, adding that the deceased Chinese helmsman, surnamed Yu (于), did not have a license before acquiring the boat in January and had operated it less than 10 times.
In addition, experts said in a report on the incident issued earlier this year that the boat had not passed a seaworthiness inspection or been registered, making it an unsafe vessel prone to water ingress and instability when tilted.
Although Kinmen prosecutors felt there was no evidence to support an indictment of Huang and Tsai for the collision, that decision did not mean that the coast guard’s performance was flawless.
On July 30, CGA Director-General Chang Chung-lung (張忠龍) apologized for the four coast guard personnel not carrying cameras during their mission.
Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) on Friday said the CGA, which is an OAC agency, would equip each of its staff members with a camera starting from Thursday next week.
The CGA has begun installing surveillance systems on the hulls of its boats, which is expected to be completed by the end of December, she added.
The lack of cameras made it difficult to get an accurate picture of what happened and what sparked the collision.
As for the deceased, the CGA has reached an agreement with their families and would implement it soon, CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-Chin (謝慶欽) said on July 30.
It has not disclosed the details “out of respect for the families involved and the consensus reached in the cross-strait agreement.”
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