The Taipei City Government yesterday promised to improve the six lifeboat launch ramps used for rescues along the Keelung and Tamsui rivers after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors condemned the authorities over their poor maintenance.
The six rescue ramps, which cost the city government NT$23 million (US$681,000) to build, were suffering from serious silt problems that made it difficult for rescue teams to save people because lifeboats often got stuck in the mud, DPP Taipei City councilors Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Chou Wei-yo (周威佑) told a press conference yesterday.
The silt problem at Sanjiao Ramp in Shilin District (士林), for example, limited the time lifeboats could be launched into the river to only four hours per day, Wu said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF COUNCILOR WU SU-YAO
The city government旧 failure to maintain the lifeboats and other rescue equipment also affected the efficiency of rescue work, Chou said. Of 209 lifeboats owned by the Taipei City Fire Department, 163 were old and needed replacing, he said.
Chou said the number of people who commit suicide by jumping into the rivers in Taipei City had increased over the years, and the city government should strengthen its efforts to save more lives.
In response, Taipei City Hydraulic Office deputy director Huang Chi-feng (黃治峰) acknowledged the silt problem at the ramps, promising to dredge them as soon as possible.
Yo Chia-chu (游家祝), a division chief in the department, said the department purchased 10 new lifeboats in both 2007 and last year, and would replace the old lifeboats.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS