Seven crew from the Sierra Leone-flagged "Lucky" were rescued Thursday, after the cargo vessel began taking on water 11 kilometers off the coast of Changhua County.
With the ship at risk of sinking, the crew were retrieved after Coast Guard personnel responded to a distress call Thursday afternoon.
The Lucky began listing when water entered its cargo hold in waters near the Wenzi Fishing Harbor in Changhua County, according to the Central Branch of the Coast Guard Administration.
According to the branch, the ship was already listing at 25 degrees by the time a Coast Guard team, consisting of a 500-ton and a 100-ton patrol ship, arrived in the area.
A total of seven crew members -- two Indonesians and five Burmese nationals -- were picked up by the team and transported to Taichung Port.
Those rescued were then instructed to undergo quarantine procedures in line with Taiwan's COVID-19 prevention protocols.
None of those rescued showed signs of injury, and the cause of the flooding in the ship's hold was still being investigated, the branch said.
According to the Marine Traffic website, the vessel departed Kaohsiung for China at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Maritime and Port Bureau issued an alert Thursday for the ship, which is still anchored off the coast of Changhua as of Friday afternoon.
The Coast Guard has also sent a patrol ship to monitor the situation in that area, the branch said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel