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Taiwan: Searches for 152 Missing Vietnamese Tourists Underway

Taiwan: Searches for 152 Missing Vietnamese Tourists Underway
folder_openAsia-Pacific... access_time5 years ago
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Local Editor

A search was underway for 152 Vietnamese who arrived in Taiwan on tourist visas, authorities said Wednesday.

 Local media reported they may have come to the island to work illegally.

The tourists were issued visas under an initiative launched three years ago to attract more visitors to Taiwan from south and Southeast Asia.

A total of 153 Vietnamese nationals arrived in southern Kaohsiung city over the weekend – and only one has been tracked down, according to Taiwan's National Immigration Agency.

"The agency has set up a taskforce and worked with the police to investigate the tourists who are unaccounted for and the group behind them," according to a brief statement.

They face deportation and a three- to five-year ban from the island, the immigration agency said.

About 150 tourists had previously gone missing under the program, according to the Tourism Bureau, though it is not clear how many of them were found.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP it had asked Taiwanese authorities for clarification on the case and sought coordination so bilateral tourism and exchange programs would not be affected.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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