Two Taiwanese fishing boats reported that they were fired upon by what they believe to be an Indonesian official vessel while sailing through the Strait of Malacca early Monday.
The owner of the “Sheng Te Tsai,” registered in Liouciou Township, Pingtung County, surnamed Lee, said he received a satellite phone call from the skipper, Lin Nan-yang, after 5 a.m. that the ship and the “Lien I Hsing No. 116” were being shot at.
In one of the messages sent from the ships, crew members said they believed the vessel belonged to the Indonesian military, because they spotted on it the code “2804,” usually only seen on official vessels of the Southeast Asian nation.
The two vessels, which were heading to Singapore to offload their catches and get supplies, reported their location at 6 degrees 15 minutes north latitude and 97 degrees 40 minutes east longitude when the shooting took place.
Lin said that the 20 crew members of both ships were unharmed, but said that the “Sheng Te Tsai” had more than 10 bullet holes.
Lin told Lee that the shots were mainly aimed at the cockpit of the two ships, which Lee said was quite different from the usual warning shots, which tend to target the back of a vessel or the water around it.
The two fishing boats left Pingtung in late November last year and have been working in the Indian Ocean, and are expected to arrive in Singapore in two-and-a-half days.
Tsai Pao-hsing, an executive at the Liuchiu Fishermen’s Association, said that the route the two vessels took along the center line of the Strait of Malacca is generally safe, although there have been occasional pirate attacks reported by fishermen in the past.
Ismail Mae, director of the Press Information Division at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia, said in Jakarta that the office will contact the Indonesian government to clarify whether the attack was launched by an official vessel after it gathers more information.
Meanwhile, Yunus Ismail, deputy head of the press office at the Indonesian Navy Headquarters, told CNA that there had been no report made by the coast guard or navy vessels of chasing Taiwanese fishing boats.
He said the headquarters will check with the naval base on Batam Island to see if any Indonesian official vessels were involved in the shooting.
Huang Hung-yan, a deputy director-general of the Fisheries Agency, said in Taipei that Taiwan does not rule out the option of negotiating a fisheries agreement with Indonesia similar to those signed with Japan and the Philippines, to better protect Taiwanese fishermen.
CNA