Taiwan’s International Criminal Police Division head Li Yang-chi (李泱輯) announced that as of Tuesday, 24 of the 25 corpses that were found floating at sea in late February have been identified. That came at a press conference held by the Criminal Investigation Bureau on Wednesday.
The special task force established by the Coast Guard and Criminal Bureau identified 14 of the victims as Taiwanese nationals and 10 as Vietnamese nationals. Li said that in addition to the remains of eight male and two female Vietnamese that have already been recovered, there are still four Vietnamese females whose bodies have not been found.
Both Taiwanese and Vietnamese authorities have set up cross-border investigations to discover how the victims ended up in Taiwan. Li said no connection has been found with human trafficking rings in Taiwan so far.
The press also asked about a body found in a Taichung wind turbine in early March. Li said the victim, who died of dehydration, was also a Vietnamese national and the special task force will continue to investigate.
The final findings will be publicly released after the Tainan District Attorney’s Office and the special task force have completed their joint investigation.