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.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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