Minister of the Interior Chang Pao-ya (
At the same time, however, many lawmakers spoke out against Chang, saying that she must shoulder the blame and explain why the government had bungled the rescue of the four workers killed in a flash flood on Saturday.
Chang declined to make a statement, but opposition party lawmakers questioned why she and the deputy minister had not resigned over the affair, rather than allowing two subordinates -- Director-General of the National Fire Administration Chen Hung-yi (
Chang returned from Hawaii on Monday night after concluding an unofficial visit and her deputy, Lee Yi-yang (
Chang avoided lawmaker's questions but was clearly angry later when facing reporters.
She pointed out that the public should find out why senior Chiayi officials did not appear during the rescue.
"During those two hours, where were commissioner Li Ya-chiao (
"They are on the front line in the government's rescue system and they should take charge of rescue situations at that front line," Chang said.
She said that local administration officials in Chiayi County had not accepted any responsibility themselves but simply sought to shift the blame to the central government instead.
She questioned why the rescue teams did not carry enough equipment, such as dinghies and life-preservers.
The Chiayi County Government, in the meantime, announced that it had punished seven local fire department officials with demerits or reprimands over the incident.
"The chief of the fire department, Hsieh Hsin-yung, did not report this incident to me in a timely manner and also failed to contact other rescue services," said Li.
A major demerit was recorded against the fire chief and also against his deputy, Chiang Kuo-chun (
Chang also asked the local administration to find out why the river had suddenly flooded and why the workers were not made aware of the possibility that the river might rise.
The minister also wanted to know why the workers were not carrying any safety equipment, considering that they were working in a flood plain.
Chiayi prosecutor Yeh Keng-hsu
Yeh has asked the rescue team to provide the phone log from the day in question, to verify the time that the first call was made.
"We have received information from anonymous sources that the police department received the emergency call before 5:00pm, but fire department officials say that the message wasn't relayed to them by police until after 5:30pm," Yeh said.
"We will find out who is lying," he said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS