All of the nearly 2,000 passengers currently stranded on a cruise ship in Naha, Japan, are to return by Thursday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said today.
Mediterranean Shipping Co’s (MSC) ship the MSC Bellissima had a malfunction, stranding it at the Okinawa port with 1,857 Taiwanese passengers on board.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has coordinated with domestic airlines and the Japanese government to use larger aircraft and increase the number of flights, adding about 748 seats over today and tomorrow, Chen told legislators during a committee hearing at the legislature.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsu, Taipei Times
With the help of additional charter flights, the ministry expects all affected travelers to return by Thursday, he added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that although there are administrative procedures to overcome, the ministry should work efficiently to allow all passengers to return by tomorrow.
While MSC has offered compensation for affected travelers, the costs of tickets and shore excursions are not the same, so the Tourism Administration should work with the Travel Quality Assurance Association to protect passengers’ rights, Lee added.
MSC is to cover the ticket costs, Chen added.
The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa, with planned stops at Miyako Island, Naha and Ishigaki Island.
It was set to return to Taiwan on Sunday.
Passengers who arranged their own transportation from Naha can claim compensation of up to US$400 if they traveled outside Japan and up to US$200 for domestic travel within Japan, the cruise operator said.
A separate trip of 2,080 passengers scheduled to board the MSC Bellissima in Keelung on Sunday was canceled.
The cruise operator said it had informed all those affected on Saturday.
To compensate for the disruption, the operator promised full refunds to all impacted passengers.
It would also provide a voucher worth up to 50 percent of the ticket value that is to be valid until Dec. 31 next year.
Additional reporting by CNA
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of