Taiwan’s Coast Guard detained a Togo-flagged cargo ship with an all-Chinese crew on Tuesday after Taiwanese telecom firm Chunghwa reported damage to its undersea communications cable.
“After receiving information from Chunghwa Telecom, the Hongtai ship was detained for violating regulations,” the Coast Guard Administration said.
Poor weather conditions initially prevented an immediate inspection of the ship, which has a crew of eight. The vessel was escorted to Anping port in the city of Tainan.
The island’s authorities are looking into the cable break to determine whether it was an act of sabotage or an accident. The case has been handed over to the Tainan prosecutor’s office and is being treated as a national security matter.
