Taiwan Railway Taroko 2 morning in Hualien Clearwater Tunnel suspected of slipping due to construction vehicles, causing the Taroko braking failure, resulting in a tragedy of 50 dead and 202 injured, which is also the most serious traffic accident in the 73 years of Taiwan Railway casualties. Taiwan has had two major train accidents in three years, and Taiwan’s Minister of Transportation Lin Chia-Lung resigned to take all responsibility.
Taiwan Railways train 408 Tai Luge was carrying 498 passengers (372 seats, 122 stations, 3 crew members and 1 cleaning staff), and at 9:28 a.m. on the 2nd, it was traveling through the north entrance of the Hualien Clearwater Tunnel, because the construction vehicle driven by the director of the slope improvement project site, Li Yi-xiang, was parked on the construction right-of-way and was suspected of not pulling the parking handle and sliding down to the East Main Line (K51+450), and was The accident occurred when 408 cars passed and hit the track.
According to the description of the special search personnel at the scene, the most tragic is the eighth carriage is also the head of the train, the first to hit the mountain wall, and along the road wear, the car body was directly cut off, plus the first few carriages, twisted and deformed, the scene inside the carriage, the dead and injured piled up, the scene is quite tragic. According to reports, in the death of 50 people, just seven or eight carriages on more than 30 people, including the newlywed driver Yuan Chunxiu more than a year. Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted the Taroko No. 408 train conductor surnamed Lee statement that “the moment of the incident, the train emergency brake, then felt a violent impact, the car body vibration, get off and found that the back of the car extrusion can not get out.”
Taiwan Railway Taroko derailment accident. (provided by the Taiwan Fire Department)
Zhang’s mother: “I saw her (daughter) just in front of the eighth car, I have tried to pull her out, but I can not.”
The family of four, with gauze wrapped around their heads, was also in the eighth carriage, and it was sad to see that their husbands and a pair of children were killed. The family bought standing tickets and sat in the open space and on the passageway. The carriage suffered a serious impact and Zhang’s mother was the first to get out and wanted to move the iron plate to save her daughter, but she was still a step too late.
Qingming tomb-sweeping even the first day of the holiday derailment accident many families were separated from each other forever
There was also a rescue worker who posted that a father with a limp told the rescuers, “There are two daughters in the car, please hurry up and get them out”. The man was arranged to wait for the evacuation vehicle, the older daughter was rescued first, the younger daughter was carried out when there was no sign of life, the injured father said “can I hug her again?” Let the scene two search and rescue personnel instant emotional breakdown, can not help but red eyes.
4-year-old Chen Xiaomei is the youngest victim, because the body torso is severely damaged, the remains took 15 hours to complete the repair. The uncles who came to pick up Chen Xiaomei “home” heard that the perpetrator Li Yixiang 3 only 500,000 bail is very angry. “500,000 bail, 500,000 I gave him on it.” Chen Xiaomei’s uncle said that society must have justice, not just money to measure, and hope that justice can be handled fairly.
Volunteers at the scene wiped away the tears for the family.
Construction truck driver had been sentenced for worker casualties
How exactly did this derailment accident, which caused 50 deaths and more than 200 injuries, happen? According to the Taiwan Railway accident report, the preliminary identification for the Taiwan Railway Bureau outside the side slope improvement construction manufacturer (East New Creation) site director Li Yixiang about 9:00 a.m. driving trucks, site inspection, parked on the construction right-of-way, into the workplace, for some reason slipped 20 meters, along the construction right-of-way caused by slipping. The direction of the investigation will be clarified Li Yixiang “has not pulled the hand brake, or brake failure”.
The accident of the “Yixiang Industrial Society” engineering vehicle owner Li Yixiang 3 was ruled by the Hualien District Court to 500,000 yuan bail. The prosecution protested, and the Taiwan High Court Hualien Branch ruled to revoke and remand the ruling, Li Yixiang was brought back to the Hualien District Court from his residence by the police on the 4th, and read a tearful apology statement prepared before the camera.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. I will definitely cooperate with the investigation and handling operations of the prosecution and police units, and take up the responsibility, and will never shirk it! Finally, I once again offer my most sincere apologies.”
The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. The company has been exposed for falsifying construction logs and the death of an employee, and has been sentenced twice to six months in prison. The company is also able to contract a total of 17 projects for Taiwan Railways and the General Administration of Highways, with a total amount of NT$142 million. Lee Yi-xiang was identified as a “DPP party representative”, but the DPP has clarified that he is “not the current party representative.”
Left: Aerial photo of the derailment of the Taroko. (provided by Taiwan Fire Department); right: Taiwan Railway derailment accident, some passengers photographed the accident site director Li Yi-xiang (left) watching from the hillside. (ripped from PTT netizen leeabc)
According to the photos provided by the people sitting on the train at the time of the incident, Li Yixiang was standing on the side slope with another worker watching at the first time after the derailment, according to witnesses, Li Yixiang did not help call for help, nor did he come down to help, and is suspected of driving another engineering vehicle “run away” and disappeared.
The Hualien District Attorney’s Office Yu Xiutuan confirmed on the morning of the 5th that there was indeed more than just Li Yixiang at the site. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public.
The first time I saw a woman, I was a little bit of a jerk.
The president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, went to Hualien hospitals on the 3rd to visit the injured, also went to the funeral home to offer incense for the victims and condolences to the families of the victims. The heartbroken families could not help but cry out to Tsai Ing-wen: “You hear every time, are not improving, it really hurts!” The families of the victims hissed, “Do you know that you are the president? My heart hurts!”
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen went to Hualien to console the injured. (Courtesy of Taiwan Presidential Office)
In addition to expressing her condolences to the families of the victims, Tsai Ing-wen also reassured the families of the injured that the hospitals are doing their best to treat the injured and will give them the best care; as for the victims (1 French, 2 Americans) and the injured foreigners (2 Japanese, 1 Mainlander, 1 Australian), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contacted the relevant representative agencies in Taiwan and will continue to provide assistance.
The derailment of the Taiwan Railways train on October 21, 2018 resulted in 18 deaths and 215 minor injuries, less than 3 years after the worst derailment in 73 years. Taiwan Transportation Minister Lin Chia-Lung verbally resigned from the presidential office and issued a statement on Facebook saying, “As the Minister of Transportation, I am responsible and must of course take all the blame, and it is easy to resign and step down. I was a person first, before I was a transportation minister. At the scene, everyone is working hard to do more for the victims, their families and survivors, hoping to learn the truth and hoping that no such tragedy will happen again.”
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