The Taiwanese Coast Guard is working to identify an unknown vessel that has been found aground on rocks off the western coast of Taiwan.
Liberty Times Net reported that no one was on board what appears to be a general cargoship discovered near the island of Xijiyu on Monday morning.
A local patrol team spotted the ship and called in a report of a possible grounding and environmental incident, but no spill has been reported.
Contact could not be established with the ship.
A cruiser is guarding the site and monitoring for oil pollution or vessel movement, while three other ships have been mobilised as a precaution.
Boarding impossible
Video footage appears to show a name on the hull, but it remains tantalisingly unclear.
Coastguard personnel have not yet been able to board the vessel in rough weather.
In these rare cases of unknown ships being washed up on shorelines, it often turns out that the ships in question were elderly vessels being towed on their final journeys to breakers, but were torn from their towing lines in heavy seas.
But last May, Ireland was landed with a big salvage bill for a cargo vessel that ended up on rocks on the west coast after 16 months adrift in the Atlantic.
The country's revenue service, which acts as its receiver of wrecks, said it was still trying to trace the owner of the 1,600-dwt Alta (built 1976), which got stuck in February near Ballycotton.
One person claiming to be the owner came forward at the time, but ownership remains unproven.
