The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday that a diver who went missing earlier this week off New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳) remains missing, while three female divers in a separate, unrelated incident were safely rescued by a fishing vessel.
A 37-year-old man surnamed Chuang (莊) went free diving with a married couple off Bitou Cape Park on Wednesday morning, the CGA said.
The couple returned to shore at about 11am, but Chuang did not surface, prompting a large-scale sea and air search, they said.
Photo copied by Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
However, after 72 hours of search efforts, Chuang could not be found, the CGA said, adding that it would continue to monitor the area during regular patrols.
In a separate incident yesterday, three female divers who were reported missing in waters off New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) at 10:44am were rescued by a fishing vessel at 11:42am, they said.
The divers, identified by their last names Liu (劉), Yang (楊) and Lai (賴), were led into the water at about 8:40am by an instructor surnamed Sung (宋), who alerted the police when the women did not return to shore, the CGA said.
The trio had drifted to an area near fishing nets, which they held on to, and were later rescued by a fishing vessel, the coast guard said.
The women were unharmed and did not require medical treatment, they said, adding that the boat safely brought them to Shicheng Fishing Harbor (石城漁港) in Yilan County.
In another case yesterday, a 16-year-old female high-school student was reported missing after the bamboo raft she and her acquaintances were on capsized, the CGA’s Eastern Branch said.
The branch said that one of its divisions received a report at 1:33am that a young girl had gone missing at sea.
A search-and-rescue team made up of coast guards and firefighters from Hualien County’s Fengbin Township (豐濱) were sent to the area to locate the girl, they said, adding that helicopters were also deployed.
The girl remained missing as of 11am yesterday, the branch said.
Initial investigations found that the girl was relaxing on Hualien County’s Siuguluan River (秀姑巒溪) at about 1am yesterday with another high-school girl and an 18-year-old man.
The trio spotted a bamboo raft by the estuary and decided to board the vessel, they said.
They made their way out to sea, but soon capsized due to strong waves, the branch said.
The man and the other girl made their way to shore, but the girl in question was nowhere to be seen, so they reported her missing, they said.
The missing girl was dressed in a white top and black shorts when she went missing, the branch said.
People who want to engage in water activities at sea should check real-time water conditions on the “Go Ocean” mobile app, the branch said, adding that the public should call the CGA 118 hotline if they see someone drowning.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS