Taiwan prosecutors search for clues about navy’s ‘inexcusable’ accidental missile launch
Ship contained surveillance cameras but none was installed in the operations room where the launch took place, authorities say
PUBLISHED : Monday, 04 July, 2016, 3:01am
UPDATED : Monday, 04 July, 2016, 3:01am
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The fishing boat that was hit by a missile, about 40 nautical miles from the navy base in Kaohsiung. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Taiwanese prosecutors searched a naval vessel on Sunday for clues about how a petty officer could have single-handedly fired a supersonic anti-ship missile in an incident the island’s leader Tsai Ing-wen has called “absolutely inexcusable”.
The navy also ordered missile firing cable connectors be kept by ship captains in future to avoid any repeat of the blunder that had exposed a serious lapse of management in the island’s military.
The misfire, which shocked the island’s public, took place on Friday morning when an unsupervised petty officer accidentally fired Taiwan’s self-developed Hsiungfeng 3 – dubbed a “carrier killer” – from a warship docked at a naval base in Kaohsiung.
The missile hit a fishing boat about 40 nautical miles from the base, killing its captain and injuring three other crew members.
Huang Yuan-kuan, chief prosecutor in Kaohsiung, said his men had boarded the 500-tonne Chinchiang-class corvette from which Kao Chia-chun allegedly set the wrong control mode and accidentally fired the missile.
“We examined four sets of surveillance cameras on the ship, but none was installed in the operations room where the missile was launched, adding difficulty for us in collecting evidence,” he said.
Huang said prosecutors had searched the bedrooms of Kao and his immediate supervisor, Chen Min-hsiu, and seized their mobile phones to see if they contained anything suspicious.
On Friday, prosecutors summoned the two and their captain, as well as a weapons control officer for questioning. All four were released, with Kao and Chen freed after each posing bail of NT$300,000 (HK$72,000).
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Petty Officer Kao Chia-chun, who is out on bail, said he was nervous and unable to sleep ahead of the test. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Prosecutors said Kao claimed he did not know he had switched the missile mode to attack from test. He said he was stressed due to the test and had been unable to sleep until 3am that day, but then had to get up at 5am to prepare for the test.
“I do not have the faintest idea why I switched to the wrong mode – from simulation to attack,” he reportedly told prosecutors.
Chen was supposed to supervise Kao, but told prosecutors he had been thirsty and had left the room, leaving Kao alone.
Their testimonies were questioned by local news media and some military experts, who claimed it had been too easy for Kao alone to clear all the procedures for launching the missile.
The defence ministry admitted no launch key was needed for this missile and the firing cable had been connected to the launch control system during the test.
A furious Tsai – who returned from an overseas visit on Saturday – slammed the incident as “absolutely inexcusable”, saying it showed an “utter contempt of discipline and a complete lack of competence” within the military.
