MND indicated (14th) that it was informed by NRCC (National Rescue Command Center) at 1042 over a Panamanian vessel “Tong Cheng 601” with 13 Indonesian crew stranded at 26 nautical-mile west from Kaohsiung International Airport. NRCC had deployed 1 rescuing helicopter to lift 6 crew members and the rest 7 crew members were requesting Air Force for evacuation.

Once MND had received the information, an EC-225 aircraft (No. K-493) was detached from Jia-yi Air Force base for the rescue. It took off at 1105 and reached the target area at 1132 to start the evacuation. All 7 crew members were lifted at 1200 and the aircraft landed at Kaohsiung International Airport at 1217. The 7 crew members were handed over to Coast Guard Administration as mission accomplished.