Filipino killed in Taiwan fishing boat brawl

A Filipino was killed and another was critically wounded in a brawl aboard a Taiwanese fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean.

A rescue operation was under way after several crew members were thrown overboard during a knife fight, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said on Wednesday.

A nearby Taiwanese boat responded to the distress call and rescued four seamen from the waters 2,800 kilometers northeast of Mauritius.

“Many of the crew members were forced off the ship, but we don’t know how many are in the waters,” a Coast Guard statement said.

Rescuers from the nearby vessel were prevented from boarding the distressed ship by a worker wielding a metal bar, a Taiwanese official said.

At least 10 people had been seen in the water, a report said.

“We believe that the captain and his chief engineer, both Taiwanese, are safe,” said Chai Pao-hsin, manager of the Liuchiu Fishermen’s Association.

Human rights abuses

Australia dispatched a military plane to assist the search, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said.

The fight broke out in the early hours of Wednesday aboard the “Wen Peng,” a Taiwanese vessel manned by 21 Filipino and Indonesian workers.

According to a report by environmental group Greenpeace in 2016, Taiwan’s fishing industry is “out of control” with rampant labor and human rights abuses toward foreign workers.

There are an estimated 160,000 migrant workers working on board Taiwanese fishing vessels, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia.