Investigation of damaged undersea cable stymied by weather: Taiwan coast guard

7/1/2025 14:39

Taiwan's coast guard has said that it suspects a ship damaged an undersea communications cable over the weekend, but that bad weather prevented its personnel from boarding the vessel to investigate.



The coast guard had said on Saturday that a ship registered both to Cameroon and Tanzania was suspected of damaging an undersea communications cable northeast of the island.



Late Monday, the coast guard said that it had been unable to board the ship because of poor weather and that the vessel had continued to Busan, South Korea. They said that all seven crew were Chinese nationals and that the owner, which it did not name, was based in Hong Kong.



"Referencing incidents of undersea cables being damaged in the Baltic Sea in Europe last year, and judging from the historical tracks of the vessel, it is not possible to confirm its real intention," the coast guard said, referring to incidents Baltic Sea nations have complained about since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.