Two Taiwanese boats collided off Kinmen on the morning of Sunday, 1 November 2026. One boat turned over and sank. Its two people fell into the sea, and the other boat rescued them. This is reported by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA), quoting Taiwan's Coast Guard.
Kinmen is a group of Taiwanese islands very close to the coast of mainland China. The collision happened north of Beiding, a small island off Kinmen.
What happened
The two boats are called Haizhi (海執號) and Manlifa (滿利發號) in Chinese. The reports do not say what kind of boats they are or what they were doing.
The Coast Guard got the report at about 11:41 local time. After the boats hit each other, Haizhi lost its balance, turned over and sank, TVBS reports. Its captain and one crew member fell into the water.
The crew of Manlifa pulled both men out of the sea straight away. The captain of Haizhi had light cuts and bruises. Neither man's life is in danger.
The Coast Guard sent two patrol boats and one smaller patrol craft to the scene. At about 12:20, Manlifa brought the two men into Fuguodun fishing port on Kinmen. It then went back out to help at the collision site.
The Coast Guard watched the area by radar. A navigation warning was also sent out to ships in the area. The sunken boat could be a danger to other boats. The reports do not say why the boats collided.
In a similar case a few days earlier, a cargo ship hit the fishing boat Kawal Jaya 9 off Bintan, Indonesia. Thirteen crew were saved there, but one man is still missing.
Safety at sea: avoiding collisions and surviving one
Taiwan's Coast Guard warned that the northeast monsoon has started. The monsoon is a strong seasonal wind. During this season, the weather and the sea can change very quickly. These steps help small-boat crews:
Check the weather and sea forecast before every trip, and again during the day.
Check the boat and its equipment before you sail: engine, lights, radio, pumps and life-saving equipment.
Keep a proper lookout at all times, by sight and by radar if you have it. Many collisions happen in good weather because nobody is watching.
Make your boat easy to see. Use your navigation lights. If you have AIS, keep it switched on. AIS is the system that shows your boat on other ships' screens.
Wear a life jacket on deck. A small boat that turns over can sink in seconds, with no time to find one.
If you see a boat sink or a person in the water, help at once if it is safe. Call the coast guard by VHF radio on channel 16.
Tell your family or the boat owner where you are going and when you plan to come back.
You can find emergency numbers and other help for seafarers on the Crewboard useful links page.
Cover photo: the Taiwan Coast Guard patrol boat PP-3503 coming into Hujing fishing port, Penghu, in January 2025. It is a 35-tonne patrol boat. The reports name the boat PP-3520 at this rescue; the photo does not show that boat or this rescue. Photo: Wang Yu Ching, Office of the President (Taiwan), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Sources: Central News Agency (CNA, in Chinese), 1 Nov 2026: Two boats collide off Beiding, Kinmen; one capsizes and sinks, two rescued, TVBS News (in Chinese), 1 Nov 2026: Two boats collide off Beiding, Kinmen; boat capsizes and sinks, two crew rescued.
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