Rogue waves are likely to blame for an incident last week that left three members of a submarine crew missing, the navy said yesterday, as it presented a timeline of what happened.
A master chief petty officer surnamed Lin (林) and two petty officers surnamed Yen (顏) and Chang (張) remain missing after being swept off the Hai Hu (海虎, Sea Tiger) submarine on Thursday last week, Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Wu Li-ping (吳立平) told a news conference, adding that the military has dispatched 80 aircraft and 76 vessels in a rescue mission involving 981 people.
“We won’t leave our comrades behind,” Wu said, adding that the military would not call off the search-and-recuse mission until they find the missing crew members.
Photo: Wu Su-wei, Taipei Times
The navy on Sunday said it would continue the rescue mission for at least another 72 hours following the elapsing of the first 72 hours — also known as the “golden period” for search-and-rescue missions.
Preliminary indications show that the weather conditions, in particular winds measuring a five on the Beaufort scale, were within safety standards on Thursday last week, and that an unexpected surge in the sea was likely the main reason the sailors were swept away, Wu said.
The incident occurred after the Hai Hu departed from Kaohsiung on Monday last week for a training mission in waters off southeastern Taiwan that was set to conclude on Friday, he said.
At about noon on Thursday last week, while operating under the sea, crew members heard “abnormal sounds” coming from the rear of the vessel that they eventually determined was coming from one of the submarine’s rescue buoys.
The buoy was floating outside the submarine after the wooden cover of its compartment fell off, for reasons the navy has yet to determine.
Fearing that the 300m steel cable the buoy was attached to could damage the submarine’s propeller blades, the captain brought the submarine to the surface and ordered crew members to recover the buoy, Wu said.
Four sailors were sent out initially, all of whom wore life jackets and were tethered to the deck by a safety harness. Three of them were swept overboard by a rogue wave, with one of the three saved because of his safety harness.
The navy determined that the buckles connecting the missing sailors to the safety line had deformed and came loose under the stress of the weather conditions, Wu said.
After hearing that crew members had fallen overboard, the submarine’s weapons system chief went to the deck to aid in the rescue, resulting in him also falling into the sea, before being quickly recovered, he said.
The captain then dispatched six members of the vessel’s rescue team to the deck to find the missing sailors, while also trying to retrieve the buoy.
A member of that team also fell overboard due to a rogue wave and went missing, Wu said.
The Hai Hu is one of two Chien Lung-class (Sword Dragon) submarines Taiwan purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s, the other being the Hai Lung (海龍, Sea Dragon).
Taiwan also possesses two World War II submarines purchased from the US in the 1970s, but they are now used exclusively for training purposes.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS