wfn.org | Churches Respond to Plane Crash in Taiwan Straits

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Taiwan Church News 2622, June 2, 2002
Reported by Lin Yi-shin, Translated and Rewritten by David
Alexander

    When a China Airlines passenger jet fell into the Taiwan
Straits on May 25, 225 passengers and crew lost their lives.
Following the
crash members of 8 Presbyterian and one Baptist church in the
Peng-hu
Archipelago, near which the plane went down, entered into the
relief effort with
all their strength.  A hundred volunteers in all.  They joined
teams under
the direction of the Christian Rescue Association, World
Vision/Taiwan and the
Church and Society Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
(PCT).
    According to Taiwan's civil aviation authorities, the plane,
an aged 747
bound from Taipei to Hong Kong, broke into four pieces at 30,000
feet
altitude at 3:28 PM and crashed into the sea northeast of
Peng-hu.  By 6 PM
that evening volunteers had gathered to give comfort and counsel
to
families of crash victims and to assist in identification of
remains.
    The Church and Society Committee of the PCT dispatched the
Rev. Namoh
Tatao from Hualien to coordinate volunteers and services.  He
said that the
church will route its support through the local churches in
coordination
with World Vision and the Christian Rescue Association.
    Ms. Pan Ya-koan, a local staff worker with World Vision, said
that a
temporary morgue and mourning tent were set up at Peng-hu Air
Force Base,
where recovered bodies were being taken.  A family service center
was set
up there.  World Vision and other agencies are offering simple
supplies,
comfort and counsel in cooperation with the government's work.
Presbyterian
and Baptist clergy are active in aiding identification work.
    Mortuary staff from Taipei City have been moving bodies back
to Taiwan.
World Vision and the Rescue Association are working with local
churches to
staff reception centers there.

For more information:  www.worldvision.com.tw
                                    service@mail.pct.org.tw

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Chinese.
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