bodies of fishermen from february boat incident return to mainland -凯发国际娱乐试玩

the bodies of the two chinese mainland fishermen who were killed in a february boat incident near the island of kinmen were returned to the mainland on tuesday, along with a detained fishing boat.

ahead of the return, family members of the victims reached a consensus with the taiwan side in kinmen, following negotiations concerning the aftermath of the incident.

they were accompanied by representatives of a local branch of the red cross society of china in eastern fujian province.

the fishing boat was chased and hit by a taiwan patrol ship on february 14. the incident led to all four fishermen aboard falling into the sea, two of whom died.

"it's been over five months since the incident, and a consensus was finally made between the two sides concerning its aftermath," said li zhaohui, a senior consultant with the rcsc branch, expressing hope that the taiwan side will actively implement the consensus.

at around 10:20am, a joint memorial service was held at a funeral parlor in kinmen, attended by about 100 people including the families and representatives from both sides of the taiwan strait.

at the event, chang chung-lung, head of taiwan's coast guard authority, said they would like to express their apologies for the suffering experienced by the families and extended condolences.

after the memorial ceremony, the bodies of the deceased fishermen were carried back to jinjiang by a mainland ship, and the detained fishing boat was also returned.

li told reporters in kinmen that he hopes relevant parties of the taiwan side would make public the truth of the incident as soon as possible, make a fair and square conclusion after investigation and take appropriate actions to those involved in the incident.

"the two sides of the strait are one family, and there is only a narrow stretch of water between jinjiang and kinmen, making the bond between them even closer," li said.

he also called on relevant authorities in taiwan to make sure that such incidents that hurt the feelings of compatriots on the two sides of the strait and undermine cross-strait relations will not happen again in the future.