TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese fishing boat on Thursday (March 14) capsized in the waters off of Kinmen with six crew members onboard and a joint cross-strait search and rescue effort is underway.
The "Minlongyu 61222" capsized early Thursday morning, reported CNA. Two of the Chinese fishermen are dead, two were rescued, and two are still missing.
The National Rescue Command Center received a report at 6 a.m. that the Minlongyu 61222 had sunk 27 km (15 NM) southwest of Kinmen. The fishermen were reportedly from Zhangzhou in China's Fujian Province.
Chinese aircraft and ships conducted search and rescue missions within a radius of 37.4 km (20 NM) from where the ship sank. Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Ninth Fleet Branch also sent four ships to join in on the rescue operations.
In addition, the Ministry of National Defense has requested the Air Force Combatant Command, Naval Fleet Command, and Kinmen Defense Command to continue to monitor the situation.
A source told CNA that Chinese vessels had found four of the crew, but two of them had died. The other two crew members are still missing and the joint mission to find them is currently underway.
Kinmen County Magistrate Chen Fu-hai (陳福海) instructed relevant units to provide necessary support and expressed hope that the fishermen would be rescued.
