First responders yesterday rescued six of seven junior and senior-high students who were swept away while swimming at Pingtung County's Fangliao (枋寮) fishing port, but found the last student dead this morning, local authorities said.
The students were swimming at the port at about 3pm yesterday when strong ocean currents pulled them out to sea, the Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services said.
Local fire fighters and coast guard personnel, as well as two soldiers who were nearby at the time, rescued six of the students by 8pm last night, but an 18-year-old high-school student surnamed Huang (黃) remained missing.
Photo courtesy of Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services
A 27-year-old soldier surnamed Chen (陳) said that he and another soldier launched a speedboat to help after witnessing the incident.
Trained in water rescue, the pair brought lifesaving equipment, and with the help of a group of standup paddleboarders, pulled five of the students from the water.
Two of them were unconscious, but coast guard personnel arrived on scene shortly afterward and performed CPR on them.
The sixth student climbed onto a set of wave-dissipating concrete blocks and was rescued shortly afterward.
Authorities suspended their search operations at 8pm yesterday due to poor conditions, but resumed their efforts at about 5am this morning, sending out more than 20 police officers and firefighters, search and rescue boats and drones, the bureau said.
They found Huang's body at 7:20am and brought it back to shore where his family confirmed his identity, it said.
Follow-up matters would be handled by police, the coast guard and Huang’s family, it added.
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