The captain of Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) was indicted after the ship severed an undersea cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County last month.
The Tainan District Prosecutor’s Office charged the ship’s captain, a Chinese national surnamed Wang (王), for violating the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法), but lacked evidence to prosecute the other crew members, who were deported.
Prosecutors said the case involves national security and resulted in substantial losses to Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
Wang severed the cable on purpose, prosecutors said, as the ship’s charts indicated he was near the cable.
Wang dropped the ship’s anchor, then navigated the vessel in a z-shape to damage the cable and disrupt communications between Taiwan and Penghu, prosecutors said.
The damage led to service outages in Penghu, posing public safety risks, prosecutors added.
During questioning, Wang denied deliberately damaging the cable and said the ship dropped anchor due to unstable weather, prosecutors said.
However, prosecutors said his testimony was vague and evidence from the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) showed his actions were out of the norm and demonstrated intent to damage the cable.
The other 7 Chinese crew members on board were repatriated in accordance with the law, prosecutors said, due to insufficient evidence.
Wang knew the cable was an important piece of national communications infrastructure and deliberately sought to damage it, prosecutors said.
Preliminary estimates showed Chunghwa Telecom suffered NT$10 million (US$300,000) in losses from Wang’s alleged actions, violating Article 72 of the Telecommunications Management Act, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors requested that the court impose an appropriate sentence.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
RSS