Two US sailors who were last month rescued by a Taiwanese fishing vessel after being stranded at sea for five months have accused the fishermen of deliberately trying to ram their boat, an allegation the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denied.
Speaking at a routine news conference in Taipei, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said data provided by the National Rescue Command Center and the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Agency monitoring center disproved claims made by US sailors Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava.
Appel’s and Fuiava’s plan to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti in 18 days in May turned into a five-month ordeal at sea.
Photo: AP / US Navy
However, in an interview with NBC News, the women accused crew members of the Kaohsiung-registered fishing boat Feng Chun No. 66 of trying to ram their boat at night.
The two said that despite having drifted at sea for five months in thunderstorms and having dangerous encounters with sharks, “It wasn’t until they were in the hands of their supposed rescuers on the Taiwanese fishing vessel that they actually felt their lives were in danger,” NBC News reported.
“While the media portrayed a rescue by the Taiwanese fishing vessel, they were actually the reason we called for help,” Appel was quoted by the US broadcaster as saying.
However, Lee rebutted the allegations, saying that on Oct. 24, the Feng Chun No. 66 came across the malfunctioning sailboat carrying Appel, Fuiaba and their two dogs when fishing in the north of Midway Atoll.
“At the time, the National Rescue Command Center was talking to US authorities, while the Fisheries Agency’s monitor center also maintained contact with the vessel owner,” Lee said.
“Data showing the fishing vessel’s speed and location do not show any signs of what the two women claimed happened. We do not understand why they made such allegations,” he said.
Lee said that the initial plan was to tow the crippled sailboat to an atoll, but the US Coast Guard sent the USS Ashland, which was close by, and completed the rescue mission on Oct. 25.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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
RSS