A memorial wall was unveiled at a ceremony in Yilan County on Sunday to honor six Indonesian and Filipino fishers who lost their lives when the boats they were on were crushed under a collapsing bridge on Oct. 1, 2019.
The Nanfangao Bridge (南方澳橋) Memorial Wall was built inside the Nanfangao Fishing Culture Museum in Yilan by local authorities under the commission of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
Designed by Yilan-based artist Chiu Hsien-chang (邱憲章), the wall is divided into two parts. The first part showcases the silhouette of six jasmine flowers, inspired by the national flowers of Indonesia and the Philippines, the Yilan County Government said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of the Yilan County Government via CNA
The statement said that the second part features artistic representations of cross-harbor bridges from various periods.
The first part was inscribed with a poem called “Friendship Flower (莫逆花).”
The poem’s verses include: “Drifting petals finally settle down. Bury our pureness in the deep blue ocean. Life, like an ocean’s tide, ebbs and flows. Connected by Nanfangao Bridge, we forge a true friendship to cherish for a lifetime.”
However, Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), the secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, rejected the friendship narrative by shifting the focus to the lessons the government should learn from the tragedy.
In a social media post on Sunday, Shih, who was also present at the unveiling ceremony along with local officials, highlighted the sacrifices of migrant fishers in the accident, urging the acknowledgment and a resolution to the harsh living conditions faced by foreign fishers.”
The new Nanfangao Bridge was officially opened in December last year.
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