The exact location of a UH-60 Black Hawk that went missing on Monday night off the coast of Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) while transporting a patient has yet to be determined, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chiu Chang-yueh (邱昌嶽) said yesterday morning.
Members of an Aviation Safety Council (ASC) ad hoc investigation team were only yesterday able to begin operations in the waters with the help of the Coast Guard Administration, ASC Executive Director Thomas Wang (王興中) said.
The team had arrived in Taitung County on Tuesday, but poor weather conditions prevented them from traveling to Orchid Island, he said.
They first deployed a hydrophone where the helicopter disappeared from radar, Wang said, adding that the device must be within 1 nautical mile (1.85km) of the missing aircraft in order to detect signals transmitted by its black box.
Air traffic control radar data showed that the Black Hawk went missing in an area of the ocean that is about 800m to 1km deep, the ASC said, adding that the search would be difficult.
An oceanic trench in the area is very deep, with the shallowest regions more than 800m below water, Chiu said.
Microwave signals sent by the helicopter might be blocked by sand and rocks, so instruments above the water will likely be unable to receive them, he said.
The signals only last for 30 days, Chiu said, adding that the signals would become weaker with time.
The number of personnel assigned to the search-and-rescue operation has not been reduced, but rather increased, he said.
“We are not giving up and will use all of our energy to search for and recover the helicopter, so that the family members of the missing crew and passengers can rest,” Chiu said.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
RSS