TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — More than 20 foreign tourists were stranded on Sun Moon Lake Friday (March 24) after their charter boat ran aground due to drought causing reduced water levels.

After receiving an alert, the fire department dispatched a water rescue boat to retrieve the passengers. It took about 10 trips to get the travelers to safety.

The drought situation in central and southern Taiwan continues to worsen. According to the Central Region Water Resources Office of the Water Resources Agency, Sun Moon Lake's water level dropped to 741.55 meters on Saturday (March 25), almost 7 m below its high water mark of 748.48 m, now at 58.93% of capacity.

Firefighters were cited by ETtoday as saying the incident happened at about 5 p.m. on Friday. The yacht was carrying more than 20 tourists and is believed to have come close to the "Nine Frog Acrobats" statue (九蛙疊像) when it ran aground.

After receiving a distress call, the Nantou County Fire Department dispatched two firefighters in an inflatable rescue boat. Fearful the rescue craft might also run aground, they only allowed small groups of passengers each time. It took 10 trips to transfer all the stranded tourists to another boat, but there were no injuries reported.

Authorities did not rule out the possibility that the charter boat may have taken passengers to the location upon request. The Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration said on Friday that charter boat companies only sail their vessels on major navigation routes to avoid similar incidents.

It said that it would dispatch personnel to the location where the stranding occurred on Saturday (March 25), assess the cause of the incident, and advise boat operators to avoid the area for the time being.

The area has seen significantly less rainfall this winter than last year. In June 2022, the water level only slightly exposed the second frog on the statue, but now the entire statue is exposed, and the lake bed it lies on has become dry and cracked.