The Fisheries Agency of Taiwan said Tuesday that it has asked the owner of a Taiwanese fishing boat to file an insurance claim for the families of nine Indonesian crew members who went missing along with their Taiwanese captain on the Pacific at the end of 2020.
The agency said each of the missing fishermen should receive a payout of NT$1 million (US$35,000) on the life insurance policy their employer took out on their behalf, the agency said.
In Taiwan, fishing boat owners are required to insure their crews before they begin work on a boat.
The Fisheries Agency has already offered the missing captain’s family a sum of NT$50,000 as consolation money and a payment of NT$1.5 million in relief assistance.
The Su’ao-registered Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號) was reported missing on Jan. 1 after its owner, the wife of the vessel’s Taiwanese captain, informed Taiwan’s National Rescue Command Center that she lost contact with the captain on Dec. 30.
With assistance from United States authorities, an American fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft found the missing boat about 606 nautical miles east of Midway Atoll on Jan. 2.
The boat appeared to be drifting, suggesting it had lost power, and there were no signs of the Taiwanese captain or Indonesian crew, according to the Su’ao Fishermen’s Association.
On Monday, the Yong Yu Sing No. 18 was towed back to Su’ao, a township in Yilan County. The whereabouts of the 10 crew members have not yet been accounted for.
The Fisheries Agency said the case is now being investigated to determine if there was any criminal activity involved and what caused the 10 people to disappear.