Investigators have made a breakthrough in their quest to find out how the captain and crew vanished from a Taiwanese fishing boat found drifting on the high seas off Australia's northwest coast, news reports said yesterday.
Local calls made in Bali and in the Philippines were from mobile phones belonging to the captain and first mate, both of whom are Taiwanese.
The phones might have been taken by pirates or mutineers, according to Australia's AAP news agency, which quoted Taiwanese sources about the phone records of the two missing sailors.
The Indonesian-flagged vessel also had 10 Indonesian crew members.
Australian investigators are trying to piece together the movements of the High Aim 6 between Oct. 31, when it left the port of Liuchiu in Taiwan, and Jan. 8, when it was boarded by navy personnel 250km off the west coast of Broome in Western Australia.
There was plenty of fuel, as well as food and water, on the modern long-line fishing boat when it was boarded. There was no sign of a struggle and no evidence that lifeboats were laun-ched. Personal belongings were also found on the 130-tonne vessel, including seven toothbrushes.
A catch of rotting fish in the hold was taken as evidence that the High Aim 6 was a legitimate fishing vessel.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
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