Tue, Jul 15, 2008 page3

• Ou offers apology over missing men

  SEARCH A Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release said that an overturned boat in Madagascar had been spotted by rescuers, but the Taiwanese were not found

  • By Loa Iok-Sin / STAFF REPORTER, WITH CNA
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  Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) apologized yesterday afternoon for the ministry’s handling of the recent disappearance of eight Taiwanese businessmen in the waters off Madagascar on Friday.

  “There were certainly defects in communication when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MOFA] dealt with the incident,” Ou told reporters.

  MOFA said through a press release at 6pm yesterday that an overturned boat — suspected to be the one carrying the eight missing Taiwanese businessmen — had been spotted by rescuers.

  However, none of the missing eight men were found at the site, the statement said.

  Reports also said that Madagascan authorities had scaled down the search efforts after finding the boat.

  Ou’s earlier apology came after the ministry was criticized on Sunday for its slow response after learning of the incident.

  “Because of the defects [in communication], we failed to offer effective and timely assistance. I would hereby like to apologize to the families [of the missing men] and to the public,” he said.

  Ou said that the ministry had decided during a meeting yesterday morning to set up a 24-hour emergency hotline (0912-581-001).

  “We do have someone on night shift every night after office hours, but the late-shift person gets off at 10pm,” Ou said. “So we decided that we’d give the late shift an emergency mobile phone so that he or she may still be alerted even after leaving the office.”

  Ou also said that from now on late shifts would be served by officials at the level of section chief or higher, and they would be required to complete emergency response courses, Ou said.

  Meanwhile, six more family members of the eight missing men were planning to depart for the East African island nation to join the search for their loved ones.

  Chang Ming-ju (張銘如), a Taipei County resident, left for Madagascar via Hong Kong and South Africa on Sunday to help search for his father, brother and nephew who have been missing off the east coast of Madagascar since 3pm on Friday.

  Chang was accompanied by a MOFA official.

  Meanwhile, two relatives of Liu Shou-chih (劉守智), who has been operating an aquaculture company in Madagascar for the past 11 years, were scheduled to depart for Madagascar later yesterday. When the boat went missing, Liu had left Madagascar’s eastern island of Sainte Marie and was taking seven businessmen from Taiwan to inspect ocean farms for their investment potential.

  According to Liu’s brother, as of noon on Sunday in Taipei, the families of the missing Taiwanese were relying mainly on the efforts of Liu’s wife, Han Jing (韓晶), a Chinese citizen, who had been scrambling to get help and approached the Chinese embassy in Madagascar for assistance.

  Taiwan’s representative office in South Africa sent two staff members to Madagascar on Sunday to assist in the search.

  An official from China’s embassy in Madagascar also said earlier that the embassy was doing its utmost to join forces with relevant agencies of the host country to find and rescue the missing Taiwanese.

  According to the Chinese official, the Chinese embassy will inform Taiwan’s representative office in South Africa if any new information becomes available. At the moment, he said he had not received any new information.
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