Government wants Taiwanese owner of hijacked ship to take responsibility

The Fisheries Agency said Tuesday that it will urge the Taiwanese owner of the Naham 3, an Omani-flagged fishing vessel that was hijacked by Somali pirates in March 2012, to take responsibility for the captured crew.

The Naham 3 was hijacked by Somali pirates roughly 65 nautical miles south of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. The captain, surnamed Chung, was killed during the hijacking, while two of the original 29-member crew later fell ill and died during captivity.

The pirates released the remaining 26 crew members, including Shen Jui-chang (???), the chief engineer of the ship and the only Taiwanese other than the captain, Sunday after getting an undisclosed amount of ransom.

However, the office of the ship owner -- Kaohsiung-based Chien Chang Ocean Enterprise Co. (????????) -- has been closed for some time.

Chung's family has accused the ship owner of being irresponsible, noting that apart from contributing a small amount for funeral expenses, he has avoided any meetings with the family.

The family said that as the ship was Omani flagged, when they applied to the Fisheries Agency for disaster insurance payment, they could not get it because it was not a locally registered ship.

They then filed a lawsuit to seek compensation for their losses, but the court dismissed the case, saying that as it was an Omani-flagged ship, it had no jurisdiction over the case.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel