Military working all out in Suhua Highway search: minister
ROC Central News Agency
2010/10/28 11:48:29
By Emmanuelle Tzeng, Eva Feng and Sofia Wu
Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) The military has been making every effort in the search for people missing since last week when deadly rockslides hit the coastal Suhua Highway amid heavy downpours brought by Typhoon Megi, Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu said Thursday.
"We hope the public will have confidence in our soldiers' determination and abilities, " Kao told reporters upon his arrival at the Legislative Yuan to attend a meeting.
His remarks came after relatives of 19 missing Chinese tourists called a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday and questioned the intensity and efficiency of search operations. The tour group was last known to be traveling by bus on the Suhua Highway in eastern Taiwan last Thursday.
Kao said the military has been cooperating closely with the Central Emergency Operation Center to find the missing people.
"We have been doing everything we can in the operations, " Kao said. "And more backhoes have been mobilized to join the search since Tuesday."
Twenty-four persons, including 20 Chinese nationals, remained missing as of the press time.
Three Chinese officials, headed by Zhang Shenglin, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing-based quasi-official Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits, traveled to the east coast highway's collapsed section Thursday morning to observe the search efforts.
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