TAIPEI (AP) - Taiwan issued a warning for ships traveling through its southern waters on Thursday as Typhoon Sepat approached the island packing winds of more than 180 kilometers (miles) per hour.
As of 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) Thursday, the center of Sepat was located about 830 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of coastal Taitung county in southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said.
Packing winds of 184 kilometers (114 miles) per hour, Sepat is moving northwest toward Taiwan at a speed of 17 kph (10 mph), it said.
If Sepat stays at its current course, the fringe of the storm could affect the island early Friday and possibly make landfall over southeastern Taiwan at night, it said.
The bureau said ships in the Bashi Channel or seas southeast of Taiwan should take extra precautions.
Sepat is the Malaysian word for a fresh water fish.