Taipei, Jan. 7 (CNA) The sole confirmed survivor of a boat that caught fire over the weekend arrived in northern Taiwan Tuesday, where he received treatment for a 5-centimeter-long shark bite on his left foot.
The 31-year-old Indonesian national, identified by Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) by the name Rianto, was aboard a five-member Taiwanese fishing boat that caught fire Saturday near Okinawa, Japan.
He has been treated for the injury and taken to Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, where the boat is registered, by the agent who helped him secure the job on the fishing boat, the CGA said.
Rianto was one of three Indonesian crew members who set out alongside two Taiwanese hands Dec. 14 from the northeastern county of Yilan on the 26.5-ton Jeng Tsair Lih.
The whereabouts and fates of the other four crew members are unknown, but coast guard officials said they are continuing efforts to find them.
The boat, though damaged, is still afloat at the location the accident happened, the CGA said.
The CGA launched a rescue mission Jan. 4 after being alerted by its Japanese counterpart that the tuna-fishing boat was drifting abandoned off the coast of Okinawa.
Rianto was found clinging to a water float by another Taiwanese fishing boat operating nearby.
Source:
http://focustaiwan.tw