Taipei, March 11 (CNA) A soldier drowned while diving in the waters near Taitung on Saturday, and his companion was hospitalized after the accident, the Coast Guard Administration said.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. when people fishing by the embankment around Taitung's Fugang Fishing Harbor reported to the local coastguard that two people in the water seemed to be in need of help.
Coast guard officers rescued one of the two divers, who is currently in stable condition.
Nearby fishing vessels pulled the other individual out of the water, but he had already suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest when he was retrieved, officials of Taitung's Coast Guard division said.
The individual was pronounced dead at Taitung's Mackay Memorial Hospital.
The army's Taitung command center later identified him as a private surnamed Hsieh (謝).
Eyewitnesses fishing in the area said the two people went diving in the waters by Jialulan, and were taken to the area near the harbor by currents.
focustaiwan.tw
