Audio of Kinmen boat collision turned over to prosecutors: Coast Guard
ROC Central News Agency
03/04/2024 08:30 PM
Taipei, March 4 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard said Monday it has given prosecutors audio recordings of the fatal capsizing of a Chinese speedboat that fled and collided with a Coast Guard patrol boat last month near Kinmen.
Coast Guard Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) made the revelation at a legislative hearing, in which he faced questioning and criticism from some lawmakers about his agency's muted public response to the accident.
Chou said the capsizing incident occurred within the context of large numbers of unnamed, unregistered boats operating around Kinmen -- a problem that Chinese authorities had requested law enforcement help with on 49 occasions in 2023.
On Feb. 12, the Coast Guard received a report from a resident about Chinese boat incursions in prohibited waters off Kinmen's east coast, Chou said.
When its radar detected a vessel in the area on Feb. 14, it dispatched a nearby patrol boat to intercept it, setting off a chase that ended in a collision when the fleeing Chinese vessel made a sudden right turn, he said.
The collision and subsequent capsizing of the Chinese boat caused the deaths of two of the four sailors on board. It also prompted a furious response from Beijing and raised tensions around Kinmen, which is located less than 10 kilometers off the coast of the Chinese city of Xiamen.
At Monday's hearing, Chou said his agency had given Kinmen prosecutors audio records of the incident, as well as radar information showing the vessels' exact movements, but had been asked not to make them public.
Chou did not specify when the audio records were handed over. The Coast Guard previously said it does not have video footage of the incident.
Chou also pushed back Monday on the perception that a larger Coast Guard vessel had "rammed and overturned a smaller fishing boat."
Holding a picture of the collision scene, he said the Chinese speedboat was 11.6 meters long and 2.7 meters wide, while the Coast Guard patrol boat was 9.6 meters long and 2.8 meters wide.
The incident is being investigated by the Kinmen District Prosecutors Office.
(By Huang Li-yun and Matthew Mazzetta)
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