At approximately 1700 hours (Taiwan time) on 18 October 2026, the Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel Win Far Sheng No.3(IMO No. 9844631, gross tonnage 1,247), carrying 55 persons on board, was located approximately 497 nautical miles east of Kushiro, Japan. During the sea anchor retrieval operation, a machinery failure caused two crew members to fall overboard. One was recovered with no signs of life, while the other remained missing. The occurrence caused no damage to the vessel or environmental pollution.

The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) classified the occurrence as a major marine occurrence in accordance with the Transportation Occurrence Investigation Act and with reference to the Casualty Investigation Code of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). An Investigator-in-Charge has been appointed and an Investigation Task Force has been established to conduct the safety investigation.

Further information and progress of the investigation for the case will be published on the TTSB website.

Eric Shen, Director

Secretary Office

Tel: +886-2-7727-6229

E-mail: ericshen@ttsb.gov.tw

Ranger Tzeng, Investigator-in-Charge

Marine Occurrence Investigation Division

Tel: +886-2-7727-6248

E-mail: rangertzeng@ttsb.gov.tw