Two die after sailboat capsized in southern Taiwan

南台灣帆船傾覆造成兩人死亡

Information posted on the sailing coach's Facebook account shows that he had many professional certificates


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A sailing coach and his student died after their sailboat capsized on Lotus Lake in Kaohsiung City during a one-on-one lesson on Wednesday (July 20).

The 61-year-old coach, surnamed Tsai (蔡), was giving a sailing lesson to the nine-year-old boy, surnamed Wang (王), around 1 p.m. on Wednesday when their sailboat overturned for unknown reasons, CNA reported.

The boy had drifted some distance and was spotted around 2:46 p.m. before rescue personnel removed him from the water and transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced deceased, Liberty Times reported.

Not knowing what had happened, the boy’s mother came to the lake to pick her child up at around 3 p.m., but saw multiple police and fire vehicles at the scene, per Liberty Times. After asking, she learned of the accident and rushed to the hospital, where she identified her child.

However, the coach was still nowhere to be found on Wednesday and a search for him continued overnight.

At 5:53 a.m. on Thursday morning, a drone located the remains of the coach not far from the scene of the accident.

Yen Yu-shan (顏郁山), head prosecutor at the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office, told media that autopsies revealed there were no obvious injuries to either the coach’s or the student’s bodies.

According to Yen, forensic medical examiners will conduct further examinations to determine the victims’ causes of death.

The prosecutor added that the boy was wearing a lightweight and simple life jacket at the time of the accident, while the coach was not wearing one.

As there was a strong breeze in Kaohsiung on Wednesday, it’s suspected that winds might have caused the boat to turn upside down, according to the Liberty Times report.

Information posted on Tsai’s Facebook account shows that he had many professional certificates, and had once served as a coach for National Sun Yat-sen University’s sailing team.