By KHT Staff. AI-regenerated image.
KAOHSIUNG — A woman rescued from gaps between concrete wave breakers near National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學) faces a possible fine of NT$50,000 to NT$250,000 for entering a restricted coastal area during a typhoon warning, according to a Coast Guard Administration statement.
Coast Guard personnel were conducting patrols and directing people away from the Sizihwan Bay south headland (西子灣南岬頭) at 4:55 p.m. Taiwan Time on Friday, Oct. 23, when a man sought help because his girlfriend had disappeared among the wave breakers.
The woman had gone to the shoreline to watch the rough sea, the China Times reported. The location is beside the university campus in Gushan District (鼓山區).
Coast Guard officers contacted Sinbin Police Station and the Gushan fire brigade and reviewed surveillance video from around the campus. Search teams found the woman at about 5:23 p.m. in a deep gap between wave breakers in front of the south headland parking area.
She was conscious but showed signs of hypothermia after exposure to strong coastal winds. She also had multiple abrasions and bruises on her legs, the Coast Guard said.
Rescuers secured her to a long spine board and carried her ashore. An ambulance took her to Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital at about 5:30 p.m., where her vital signs were reported as stable after treatment.
The Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Typhoon Champi at 11:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and a land warning at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 22.
The Coast Guard said the woman entered a coastal warning zone designated by the local government while the typhoon warning was in effect. Officers served her with a violation notice in the hospital emergency department, and she signed to acknowledge receipt.
The case will be sent to the Kaohsiung City Government, which will determine whether to impose a penalty and the amount. The notice itself was not a final fine.
Article 55 of Taiwan’s Disaster Prevention and Protection Act allows fines of NT$50,000 to NT$250,000 for entering a designated warning area without authorization or refusing an order to leave, according to the Ministry of Justice’s National Laws and Regulations Database.
The Coast Guard urged the public to stay away from shorelines, breakwaters and ports during typhoons. Coastal or port emergencies can be reported through the agency’s 118 hotline.
Location map: View the National Sun Yat-sen University campus area in Google Maps.
