Filipino fishery worker hacked 2 crew members to death, forced 6 others overboard

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/09
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Filipino fishery worker was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday (Sept. 8) for his killing spree on the high seas last year that resulted in the death of eight crew members on a fishing vessel.

A Pingtung District Court on Tuesday found Aurelio Arafiles Fronda guilty of homicide, attempted murder, and abandonment of a body, reported UDN. Fronda was the chief officer on the ill-fated Wen Peng (穩鵬號) longliner, which is registered in Pingtung County’s Donggang Township.

At 3 a.m. on Feb. 20, 2019, approximately 1,540 nautical miles from Port Louis, Mauritius, “A fight broke out when the chief officer hacked two of his crew to death in a disciplinary action dispute," according to a Taiwanese Fisheries Agency spokesperson. Of the ship's crew of 24, which included three Taiwanese, ten Filipinos, and eleven Indonesians, six reportedly jumped overboard to flee from Fronda.    [FULL  STORY]