The wife of the captain of an Yilan County-based fishing vessel that has been out of contact for nine days in waters near the Midway Atoll yesterday urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to ask the US to help rescue the ship’s crew.
Accompanied by her two sons, the woman, surnamed Lin (林), arrived at a fishers’ association in the county’s Suao Township (蘇澳) asking for Tsai’s help, saying that one word from the president held more weight than anything that they could say.
As of Saturday last week, there were faint signals transmitted over the Yong Yu Sing No. 18’s vessel monitoring system (VMS), Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Wang Cheng-fang (王正芳) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, the last signals received placed the vessel 606 nautical miles (1,122km) northeast of the Midway Atoll, Wang said, explaining the progress of the search-and-rescue efforts.
On Wednesday last week, the agency notified the ship’s owner that the vessel’s VMS was abnormal, but the owner was unable to reach the captain, surnamed Lee (李), Wang added.
The Taipei Rescue Coordination Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been brought in to request US assistance in locating the ship, he said.
Based on information passed on to the agency by the US Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) in Honolulu, Hawaii, the ship was discovered on Saturday adrift northeast of the Midway Atoll, Wang said, adding that the JRCC updated the ship’s position on Wednesday.
The agency coordinated with four nearby ships to visit the last known coordinates of the unresponsive ship, Wang said.
One ship, the Yi Jung 18, arrived at the coordinates late on Wednesday night, but had to move away due to bad weather and tall waves, he added.
“We are still coordinating with the US to help search for the ship, as it could have drifted away from its last known coordinates,” Wang said.
Aerial photographs taken by US aircraft showed no crew members on deck, but it is possible that the images were not taken when there was deck activity, he said.
All government agencies — including diplomatic, fisheries and rescue units — are doing their utmost to assist in search-and-rescue efforts, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said later yesterday, adding that the government would assist Lee’s family however it can.
Tsai has instructed Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) to call Lee’s family to express her concern to them, he added.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that the JRCC has over the past few days dispatched fixed-wing aircraft 18 times to help locate the ship.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Honolulu has asked the US Coast Guard to send ships to help with search-and-rescue efforts, the ministry said.
The JRCC said in a statement forwarded by TECO that it could not approach the vessel due to bad weather, but would not stop efforts, including trying to reach the ship.
The ministry said that it instructed TECO to keep close contact with its US peers and to assist Taiwanese groups with the search-and-rescue efforts.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui
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