A merchant ship captain was granted bail at the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday after returning earlier in the day from Panama, where he had been imprisoned for the last five years after being accused and convicted of murder.
Duanmu Wei-kai (端木惟鍇), who was repatriated by Panama on Wednesday, was free to return to his home in Taichung City after his family members paid NT$100,000 (US$3,289) in bail.
As he left the prosecutors office, the 72-year-old former captain declared his innocence and said he would accept the results of a court trial in Taiwan.
Duanmu, a veteran of the Republic of China navy, was the captain of the Panama-registered H.V. Well Pescadores bulk carrier, owned by Taipei-based Shih Wei Navigation Co, when it was sailing from the Dominican Republic to Houston, Texas, in March 2003.
As the ship prepared to enter Houston’s harbor, several crewmen discovered five Dominican stowaways hiding in the boat. The stowaways were sent off the ship and left to fend for themselves at sea on two flat wooden rafts.
Two of the stowaways, however, were later found drowned, while three others were arrested.
The captain, the first officer and 11 crewmen were detained by US authorities, but because the crime took place on the high seas aboard a Panamanian ship, they were extradited to Panama for trial.
Duanmu has always insisted that he was not aware of the incident until after the fact. At the trial and in communications with his family, the captain said the crewmen told him the stowaways had asked to be set free.
The stowaways testified that they were thrown off the ship.
The Panamanian court favored the stowaways testimony, convicting Duanmu of murder and sentencing him to 19-and-a-half years in prison in September 2005.
Since then, Taiwan’s foreign ministry has worked to have the elderly captain repatriated back to Taiwan for trial, a request the Panamanian government finally agreed to on Wednesday.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
RSS