Local authorities reminded the public of the dangers of strong currents at shorelines, following recent drowning accidents.
On Friday, a 20-year-old American tourist was swept into the sea by waves at a beach in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) and was found dead at about 1:25pm the following day at the nearby Yanliao Beach (鹽寮沙灘), the New Taipei City Fire Department said.
The tourist was part of a group of eight students from the same technical institute in the US, they said.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
The Ruifang Precinct said the body was brought ashore at about 2:10pm, and was confirmed to be the missing man.
Forensic personnel from the precinct would collect evidence at the scene, and the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office would carry out an investigation and an autopsy to determine the cause of death, the police said.
The fire department said it had received a report at 5:37pm on Friday that three people from a group of eight tourists had been swept off wave breakers by waves.
Witnesses at the scene said the three people were about 100m from the beach when it happened.
Two were quickly rescued and brought ashore, but the third was missing, the fire department said.
Police, firefighters and Coast Guard Administration (CGA) personnel conducted a search-and-rescue operation through the night until the body was found on Saturday afternoon, they said.
Separately, search efforts continued for one Mexican who had been swept away while swimming at Green Island’s (綠島) Dabaisha Beach (大白沙沙灘) on Friday.
The CGA said it received a call for help past 1pm, after which they sent out its PP-10086 patrol boat to search for the missing person and requested for air sorties from a rescue helicopter unit.
At the site, CGA officials took down information from witnesses and those at the beach, and found that the missing person was a 23-year-old Mexican who was with a trio of friends for water recreation activities at the beach.
The foreigner’s companions said they went on the walkway that extended from the beach into the intertidal zone, where they got into the water to swim for a little while.
When they could not find their friend as they were going back to the shoreline, they shouted for help and assumed he had gotten swept away by the strong rip tide and carried out to sea, they said.
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