THE master of a cargoship that damaged an undersea cable off Taiwan has been sentenced to three years in prison in a Taiwanese court.

The court said Chinese national Wang Liang dropped the anchor of Togo-flagged Hongtai58 (IMO: 8357069), despite knowing the location of the Taiwan-Penghu Third Submarine Cable.

The electronic chart on board the vessel showed the location of the cable, as well as a no-anchoring zone, the court said.

Liang instructed other crew members, who were not prosecuted, to drop anchor at around 2100 hrs on February 22, 2025, the court heard. 

The anchor claws were not firmly fixed on the seabed and the vessel was allowed to drift in a “Z shape”.

A Taiwan Coast Administration vessel approach Hongtai 58 and ordered it to weigh anchor and leave, which it did so at around 0300 hrs on February 25. But by then, the court said, the cable was “completely broken” and unable to transmit communications.

Wang said he did instruct crew members to lower the anchor, but denied deliberately damaging the cable.

But the court deemed Liang had enough knowledge of the cable’s location and knew that if his vessel dropped anchor in that area, it would likely damage the cable.

The damage to the cable seriously interfered with government operations and “people’s livelihoods”, the court said. The repairs cost Chungwha Telecom, which manages the cable, more than $500,000.

The impact of the incident was “enormous”, the court said.