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This undated file picture shows the Teh-hsing sailing off the coast of Kinmen Island. The 900-ton bulk carrier sank in the waters off Penghu Islands on the morning of Friday, Oct. 28, after a collision with another ship.

Two seamen were killed, another two were reported missing, and a further nine were rescued from the sea after two ships collided in the waters of around Penghu, yesterday.

As of press time, a joint sea and air search and rescue operation was still under way, searching for the missing crew members from Taiwan freighter Teh-hsing (德興號), a 900-ton bulk carrier that used to shuttle between Kaohsiung and the offshore Kinmen Island, transporting materiel for the Taiwan military. Naval vessels were combing the seas for the two missing men.The two men killed in the collision were Wang Chao-tung (王朝棟), Taiwanese chief engineer of Teh-hsing and the ship’s Indonesian mechanic, Agus Rasm Anto. The two missing men were Tu Tien-hsiang (杜天祥), the ship’s Taiwanese captain, and an Indonesian junior engineer.

According to surviving crew members, Teh-hsing broke into two halves and sank about 15 minutes after a 9,000-ton Liberia-registered freighter rammed into its center at 1 a.m. yesterday. The Liberian freighter was subsequently directed to Penghu, where Coast Patrol authorities are investigating the incident.

Immediately after news of the collision reached it, the Ministry of National Defense ordered an S-70C “Seagull” helicopter to take off from an air force base in Chiayi and fly to an area 22 nautical miles northwest of the Penghu Islands. The nine survivors, who abandoned ship shortly after the collision, were picked up from the sea by the helicopter.

Meanwhile, other helicopters dispatched by the National Search and Rescue Centers flew nine sorties over the area. The Navy also ordered two vessels to head to the region.