The captain of the Chinese vessel Hai Hong Gong 66 (海虹工 66) was detained on Monday to be questioned over suspected damage to the Taiwan-Matsu No. 3 undersea cable, the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch said yesterday.
The vessel had been booked by the owner of the Chinese fishing vessel Min Lian Yu 63896 (閩連漁 63896), after the latter was abandoned when it took on water, the CGA said in a statement.
The Min Lian Yu 63896 drifted with the tide before running aground off Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) on March 21, it said.
Photo courtesy of a local resident
The Hai Hong Gong 66 arrived on Monday to begin salvage operations, the agency said.
However, Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) reported on Tuesday that optical fibers in the Dongyin-Beigan (北竿) section of the Taiwan-Matsu No. 3 submarine cable had been damaged on Monday.
The company said it suspected the damage was caused by operations carried out by the Hai Hong Gong 66.
Authorities ordered the vessel to halt operations, and CGA personnel boarded the ship, questioned all 11 crew members and brought the captain back for further investigation, the CGA said.
The case has been referred to the Lienchiang District Prosecutors’ Office for investigation.
The CGA said it would continue to monitor the vessel, while Chunghwa Telecom personnel are to conduct an underwater inspection to assess the damage and determine responsibility.
Separately, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said it had also been notified by Chunghwa Telecom on Monday, adding that contingency measures were in place to ensure communications in Dongyin were not affected.
Repairs to the cable are expected to be completed by July, the ministry said.
Only part of the cable’s optical fibers were damaged, and normal communications have not been affected, it said, urging the public not to spread misinformation online about the incident.
Separately, the CGA said it is investigating a Taiwanese vessel, the Sanlihsin (參澧鑫), whose automatic identification system (AIS) allegedly transmitted a signal registered to China while operating near Pingtung County’s Fonggang (楓港).
The vessel allegedly ignored CGA calls to stop and later turned off its AIS, the Facebook group Taiwan ADIZ said.
It was operating 7.9 nautical miles (14.6km) west of Fangshan Township (枋山), where no Chinese vessels were present, the CGA said.
The agency said the vessel is suspected of using a Chinese-made transponder broadcasting maritime identification signals registered to Chinese vessels, adding that the ship has not altered its registered identity or exhibited any other abnormal behavior.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS