Police yesterday rejected allegations they had dragged their feet in searching for Ralf Klausnitzer, a German professor who went missing in late March after arriving in Taiwan earlier that month as part of an academic exchange program.
The Hualien Police Bureau has conducted seven search-and-rescue operations since Tamkang University first reported Klausnitzer missing on April 2, but has not yet located him, bureau official Chen Yi-wen (陳奕?) told reporters.
The 57-year-old literature professor, who was invited by the university in New Taipei City to give a lecture in late March, traveled to Hualien after completing the assignment and spent the night of March 25 in a local hotel, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of the Sincheng Police Precinct via CNA
Klausnitzer’s last sighting was recorded by surveillance footage on March 26, showing him exiting a bus at Taroko Gorge’s Tiansiang Village (天祥) at 9:04am, entering Siangde Temple at 9:27am and leaving 20 minutes later, Chen said.
Although the police organized a search-and-rescue mission on April 2, it was suspended the following day after the region was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, which killed at least 18 people and injured more than 1,100, Chen added.
Rescue efforts resumed after power was restored and rockfalls removed, with multiple visits to local residents conducted in April and May, he said.
Each mission lasted five to six hours, including searches along the riverbed using drones, but no trace of Klausnitzer was found, Chen said.
The police also released Klausnitzer’s image in May, calling for any tips from the public to restart the search, but no new information has been received so far, Chen said.
The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung on Monday published a letter by Klausnitzer’s parents, who said they were upset with the Taiwanese and German authorities’ handling of the case.
Klausnitzer’s parents questioned why the search did not begin earlier, given that the hotel their son stayed at must have become aware of his disappearance on March 27.
Another complication hindering the search is the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Germany, Klausnitzer’s parents said, criticizing the lukewarm response by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Klausnitzer’s two sons arrived in Hualien on June 9 to survey the area and provide DNA samples to the police, but were left with troubling questions that led them to wonder “whether any information was being withheld,” they said.
Yesterday, Hualien police reiterated that anyone with information on Klausnitzer’s whereabouts should contact them.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by