Salvaging the wreckage of a UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter that crashed last month while transporting a patient from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) could take two to three months, Aviation Safety Council Chairman Hwung Hwung-hweng (黃煌煇) told lawmakers yesterday.
Hwung was at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to brief it about the council’s plans for this year, but Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) brought up the effort to salvage the National Airborne Service Corp helicopter.
The helicopter disappeared on Feb. 5 after taking off from Lanyu Airport on Orchid Island with six people aboard: three crew, an emergency medical technician, the patient and a family member of the patient. Their bodies have not been found.
Hwung said the council has detected wreckage in the sea and the Ministry of the Interior, which overseas the corp, has hired a contractor to salvage it.
The salvage operation could take two to three months, he said.
The wreckage was located 1,000m below sea level and special equipment is needed for such a recovery operation.
“It would be difficult to twist and maneuver the cables to retrieve the wreckage under such great pressure,” Hwung said, adding that Japan and Singapore have the technology needed to salvage wreckages on the high seas.
It is not clear whether Taiwanese operators could manage such an operation, Hwung said.
DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that the government should acquire the capacity to conduct high seas salvage operations.
As Taiwan is surrounded by sea, aircraft are more likely to crash on the water than land, he said.
Cheng also suggested the government move Lanyu Airport from the northwestern half of the island to the east.
Aircraft departing the airport often need to deal with wind shear, he said.
The airport is also not equipped with auxiliary facilities to enhance nighttime visibility, Cheng said.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration needs to address such safety risks, Cheng said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s