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TAIWAN-RAIL-ACCIDENT LEAD
22 dead after train flips in Taiwan
YILAN, Taiwan, Oct 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At least 22 people have died after
an express train derailed and flipped over on a popular coastal tourist route
in Taiwan on Sunday, the island’s worst rail accident for more than 20 years.
Taiwan’s railways administration confirmed 22 people had been killed and
said 171 people had been injured, 10 seriously, in the accident in
northeastern Yilan county.
Authorities have not confirmed if any passengers remain trapped alive
inside the train. An AFP reporter at the scene said that more bodies were
being brought out of the wrecked carriages.
Images from the site showed the Puyuma Express train completely derailed
and lying zig-zagged across the track.
All of the train’s eight carriages had derailed and five had flipped onto
their side near Xinma station, the railways administration said.
“There are four carriages that were overturned at 90 degrees and the worst
casualties were in those carriages,” Jason Lu, head of the Taiwan Railways
Administration told reporters.
“The exact cause of the accident is pending investigation,” he added.
Chang Yi-long, 62, told AFP that he had “heard a loud bang” as he was
working at a construction site nearby.
When he arrived at the scene he saw local residents helping train
passengers to escape.
– Train ‘shaking intensely’ –
One passenger told Apple Daily Taiwan that the train had put on its
“emergency brake” twice on the journey and that the electricity supply had
been patchy.
Hong Kong’s broadcaster RTHK reported another passenger saying the train
had been preparing to accelerate before overturning and had been shaking
intensely, adding that some passengers were asleep at the time of the
accident.
Taiwan authorities said the accident had happened at 4:50 pm local time
(0850 GMT). The railways administration said there had been 366 people on
board the service en route to the southern city of Taitung.
The defence ministry said it had sent in 120 soldiers to help the rescue.
President Tsai Ing-wen described the accident as a “major tragedy” in a
Tweet Sunday evening.
“My thoughts are with all the victims and their families,” she added.
The crash was the worst rail accident in Taiwan since 1991 when 30
passengers were killed and 112 injured after two trains collided in Miaoli.
Thirty were also killed in 1981 after a truck collided with a passenger
train at a level crossing and sent coaches over a bridge in Hsinchu.
The worst crash in recent years was in 2003 when 17 died and 156 were
injured after a train on the Alishan mountain railway plunged into a chasm at
the side of the track.
BSS/AFP/ARS/2000 hrs