The search for the seven remaining Taiwanese businessmen missing off the coast of Madagascar since last Friday will continue until the family and the Malagasy government call it off, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, adding the two bodies that were discovered on Monday night have already been sent to the capital Antananarivo.
MOFA Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said it would be up to the local government and the families of the deceased to decide whether the bodies should undergo autopsies to determine the cause of death.
Antananarivo has reportedly dispatched several military aircraft and vessels to help with the massive search for the seven missing men. The daily rescue mission starts from sun-up until sundown, Chen said.
Chen, however, refused to divulge the cost of the daily search, saying it is up to the families and the Malagasy government to decide when to call off the search effort.
Chen said two representatives from the families and one MOFA official are in St. Marie, an island off the east coast of Madagascar from which the eight Taiwanese businessmen and one Chinese businessman left on their fishing ground inspection last week prior to their disappearance.
Two Malagasy crew members that were reportedly on the same vessels have been rescued, but the search mission commandant has barred the MOFA official from questioning the two workers, saying Taiwanese officials have no legal right to interrogate a Malagasy national.
Chen said the commandant, however, had agreed to go to the hotel where the family representatives were staying to answer questions.
The businessmen have been missing since last Friday.
So far, only the bodies of one Taiwanese businessman, Liu Shou-chih (劉守智), and Chinese businessman Li Bo (李波) have been found.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS