2 dead, 2 missing as Taiwan, China join rescue mission near Kinmen islands
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The authorities from China and Taiwan dispatched rescue boats after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the early hours of March 14.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
TAIPEI - Taiwan and China dispatched teams on a rare joint mission to rescue the crew of a boat that capsized near the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands on March 14, amid heightened tensions in the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
The authorities from both sides sent rescue boats after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the early hours of March 14, the Taiwan Coast Guard said in a statement.
Two people were found dead, two were rescued and two were still missing, it said.
Coast guard chief Chou Mei-wu told a parliamentary committee that the boats were sent after the Chinese authorities sought help, adding that such requests were common, with 119 people rescued in such efforts over the past three years or so.
“The waters are narrow around the Kinmen-Xiamen (area) and cooperation between Taiwan and China is very important,” he said, referring to the neighbours’ cities that face each other across the strait.
Taiwan dispatched coast guard boats to join the rescue effort after the Chinese authorities asked for help, according to a senior Taiwan official who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The China Coast Guard in February began regular patrols around the Kinmen islands, which are close to China’s coast, after two Chinese nationals died trying to flee the Taiwanese coast guard after their boat entered prohibited waters.
The Chinese fishing boat capsized around 1.07 nautical miles west of Taiwan’s Dongding Island, Taiwan’s coast guard said.
Taiwan’s armed forces stationed on the island were also involved in the rescue, it added without elaborating.
Taiwan dispatched four coast guard boats and their Chinese counterparts sent in six boats for the rescue, it said.
In a statement, Taiwan’s Kinmen defence command said it had not received any request from the Chinese authorities to search the island, but added that any survivors found would be handed to the coast guard.
Taiwan’s top China policymaking body urged Beijing last week not to change the “status quo” around waters there by sending coast guard boats into restricted areas, saying tension should be “controllable”. REUTERS
