TAIPEI: Taiwan dispatched coast guard boats on Thursday to join a rescue mission at China’s request after a fishing vessel capsized near the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, amid heightened tension in the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the island’s strong objections, and has stepped up military activities near it in recent years, with almost daily incursions into air defense identification zones.
Authorities on both sides sent the rescue boats after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the early hours, Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement, adding that two people were missing, though two had been rescued and two bodies retrieved.
Coast guard chief Chou Mei-wu told a parliamentary committee the boats were sent after 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 co-operation between Taiwan and China is very important,” he said, referring to the neighbors’ cities that face each other across the strait.
Taiwan sent four coast guard vessels and its Chinese counterpart six to participate in the rescue effort, the coast guard said.
Last month, China’s coast guard began regular patrols around the Kinmen islands close to its coast, after two Chinese nationals died while trying to flee Taiwan’s coast guard after their boat entered prohibited waters.
The Chinese fishing boat capsized about 1.07 nautical miles west of Taiwan’s Dongding island, the coast guard said, with armed forces stationed there also engaging in the rescue, but did not elaborate.
In a statement, Taiwan’s Kinmen defense command said it had not received any request from Chinese authorities to search the island, but added that any survivors found would be handed to the coast guard.
Last week, Taiwan’s top China policy-making body urged its giant neighbor not to change the “status quo” around the waters there by sending coast guard boats into restricted areas, saying tension should be “controllable.”
Taiwan, China launch rescue bid after boat capsizes near sensitive islands
https://arab.news/yktwc
Taiwan, China launch rescue bid after boat capsizes near sensitive islands
- Authorities on both sides send rescue boats after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the early hours
- The Chinese fishing boat capsized about 1.07 nautical miles west of Taiwan’s Dongding island
Another construction crane collapse in Thailand kills 2 people a day after deadly train derailment
- A construction crane has collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, a day after another construction accident in northeastern Thailand killed 32 people
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand: A construction crane collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, killing two people on Thursday, a day after another crane fell on a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand and killed 32 people.
The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.
There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.
“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”
At the site of Wednesday’s train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.
The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.
The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday’s accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.
The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building’s collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.
Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai’s president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
