A Taiwan Television (TTV) news cameraman drowned yesterday after being caught off guard by flooding in the Keelung River.
Alex Ping (平宗正), 31, was pronounced dead at Rueifang Hospital in Taipei County after doctors struggled to save his life.
PHOTO: TTV
"Ping was pronounced dead at 1:20pm. When he was rushed to the hospital around noon, he did not show any vital signs," a spokesperson at the hospital told the Taipei Times yesterday afternoon.
The accident took place while Ping, along with a group of reporters, were waiting for Premier Yu Shyi-kun to visit a flood-diversion tunnel in Rueifang. The visit was scheduled for 10:40am. The site, called the Yuanshanzih Flood Diversion Works of the Keelung River, is where water from the Keelung River is diverted through Rueifang and towards the northeast coast to mitigate flooding.
Although Yu's visit was canceled, Ping and three other reporters were caught in the diverted floodwaters while waiting at the site. The other three reporters were rescued in time, but Ping drowned.
"All of us [reporters at the scene] were trying to meet our noon deadlines by covering Yu's visit to the tunnel, and we were in a hurry to leave the mountain ... when the water rushed down upon us in full force. I am 1.8 meters tall, and the water was up to my chest. Ping and female reporter were the last to be rescued. According to the rescue team, Ping actually pushed the reporter towards the rescue boat so that she could be saved first. When the team came back to get Ping, he was not showing any vital signs," said China Television System (CTS) reporter Li Wen-yao (李文耀), who was at the scene.
Li said that when he saw Ping for the last time he was still carrying his camera equipment.
"When I turned around to have a look at the people behind me, I saw Ping, still carrying his camera equipment. Should Ping have decided to drop his heavy equipment, he might still be alive," Li said.
The Water Resources Agency (WRA) said that Ping and the other reporters had been warned by a construction worker at the site not to try to cross the water during flood diversion.
"The agency issued a notice regarding the flood diversion to Rueifang Township at 9:30am. A construction worker advised the four reporters not to attempt to cross the water; however, as the reporters were eager to meet their deadlines, they did it anyway," WRA Director-General Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) said.
Ping graduated from Nanhua University's Department of Communication, and worked as a print reporter for GTV News before becoming a Keelung-based cameraman for TTV in August last year.
"The premier offers his condolences to Ping's family and is moved by the professional dedication of news reporters. The premier also asked Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Government Information Office Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) to provide assistance to Ping's family by helping with the necessary arrangements to be made following Ping's passing," Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
In response to the tragedy, the Association of Taiwan Journalists issued a statement urging journalists to watch out for their personal safety when covering disasters.
"We would like to remind media groups to offer on-the-job safety training for their reporters ... as well as to purchase accident insurance for their reporters," the association said.
Upon hearing of Ping's accident, CTS decided to increase its accident insurance policies for its reporters.
"First, we would like to offer our condolences. In addition to the group insurance and accident coverage we usually offer to our reporters, for the 20 news reporters who are working today, we have increased their accident insurance policies," CTS vice president Rick Chu (朱立熙) said yesterday.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS