Argentina to help find missing Taiwan trawler: Official

Argentina will dispatch naval vessels to help locate a Taiwan-registered fishing boat missing in the South Atlantic, Taiwan's agricultural and fishery chief said Thursday.

Chen Bao-ji, Taiwan's agricultural affairs chief, told lawmakers that the last contact with the 700-tonne trawler and its 49 crew was on Feb. 26.

The crew includes 11 from the Chinese mainland. The captain and another crew member are from Taiwan, along with 21 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos and two Vietnamese, according to the fishery authority.

Chen said one Taiwan vessel close to the area has joined the search efforts.

The Chinese mainland has called for all-out efforts to search for the fishing ship.

Chen said the boat had food reserves for at least three months when it sailed off from Kaohsiung in January to the area 1,700 nautical miles east of the disputed Malvinas Islands claimed by Argentina, which the United Kingdom calls the Falkland Islands. The boat was due to return in May.

He said it would take about 12 hours for a plane to fly to and return from the boat's last recorded location, thus, few were willing to join the search efforts.

Even though Argentina has agreed to send out naval ships, it will take at least four days for vessels to arrive, he added.

The boat lost all contact at 3 a.m. on Feb. 26 and has not been seen since, it added.

The captain reportedly reported that the boat was taking in water somewhere in the area of the South Atlantic, according to previous media reports.