二、 Translation (30 分)
Sixteen of the 20 bodies that have been found on Taiwan’s west coast
since February have been identified, with nine of them being Taiwanese and
seven Vietnamese, police said yesterday, adding that they were investigating
whether a wooden boat might be linked to the bodies. Most of the deaths are
believed to have resulted from a boat that capsized in the Taiwan Strait
during a human trafficking operation seeking to bring Vietnamese to Taiwan
to work, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said.
Investigators examined a boat found off Chiayi County to assess whether
it had been carrying the people. The boat had capsized in high waves, CIB
officials said. A vessel has been listed as missing from a fishing port in
China’s Fujian Province, they said. Since Feb. 18, 20 bodies have been
recovered, one of them on a wind turbine platform off Changhua County.
Vietnamese IDs were found on two of the bodies, while a mobile phone on another had a photograph of 14 people that was most likely a group shot
taken just before they boarded a vessel, investigators said.
The seven Vietnamese were identified by fingerprinting and DNA tests,
while the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei assisted with the
work and contacted relatives of the deceased people in Vietnam. After
autopsies were conducted on the nine Taiwanese, prosecutors and police
units clarified details with family members and friends, determining that they
had drowned after being swept out to sea or had committed suicide.
Normal procedures were followed for families to collect the bodies for burial.
CIB investigators said that the human smuggling operation had probably
been bringing people from northern Vietnam.