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Authorities said Friday’s devastating collision, which killed at least 51 people and injured nearly 190, was caused when a parked rail maintenance vehicle slid down an embankment and fell onto the tracks.
Damaged railroad tracks are seen where a packed train collided with a vehicle on the tracks and then derailed inside a tunnel in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien Mountains on April 3, 2021. Photo: Sam Yeh / AFP.
HUALIEN – Family members of those killed in Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in decades held prayers at the crash site on Saturday as rescue teams worked to remove the tangled mass of wrecked railcars.
Authorities said Friday’s devastating collision, which killed at least 51 people and injured nearly 190, was caused when a parked rail maintenance vehicle slid down an embankment and fell onto the tracks.
A train packed with up to 500 people at the start of a long holiday weekend collided with the truck just as it entered a narrow tunnel near the eastern coastal city of Hualien.
The truck driver, who according to railway authorities may not have properly secured the parking brake, was released on bail after being questioned by prosecutors and cannot leave Taiwan pending further investigation.
About 100 family members held an emotional Taoist prayer ceremony near the crash site on Saturday afternoon, in the shade of a canopy of black umbrellas.
Many wept openly as they surveyed the scene, some holding makeshift shrines inscribed with the names of those who died.
Some shouted the names of their loved ones while other family members hugged them tightly.
Rescuers described a gruesome scene when they rushed into the tunnel and found the front of the train pulverized on twisted metal mesh.
“Car number eight had the most serious injuries and the number of most serious deaths,” rescuer Chang Zi-chen told reporters on Saturday, referring to the most advanced passenger car.
“Basically more than half the carriage broke apart and the bodies piled up.”
Teams of specialists spent hours extracting victims and survivors on Friday.
On Saturday, attention turned to removing the wagons that now block half of the only train line that runs down Taiwan’s remote and mountainous east coast.
Two giant cranes were being used to move the cars and rescuers said more bodies could still be found inside the most damaged cars inside the tunnel.
‘REALLY DEVASTATING’
The Interior Ministry ordered all flags to be lowered to half-staff for three days while President Tsai Ing-wen visited the wounded in Hualien hospitals.
“Government agencies are making a total effort in the hope of minimizing the impact of the disaster so that the deceased can rest in peace and the injured can recover soon,” he told reporters.
Friday’s accident took place at the start of the Grave Sweeping Festival, a four-day holiday in which many Taiwanese return to villages to clean the graves of their ancestors.
A Frenchman and two US citizens were among the foreigners killed, authorities said. The youngest victim was 4 years old.
Survivors gave terrifying testimony of their ordeal inside the train after the accident.
Many of those on board were standing in the corridors because the route was heavily traveled by those leaving the capital, Taipei, and heading to their hometowns.
“I saw bodies and body parts everywhere, it’s really devastating,” a man surnamed Lo told the Apple Daily newspaper.
“Human beings are fragile and their lives suddenly disappear.”
Investigators are focusing on how the maintenance truck could have slid onto the tracks.
The driver was part of a team that performs regular landslide checks on the mountainous route.
Authorities said he may not have applied the parking brake correctly.
Apple Daily reported that prosecutors had also raided the offices of the company hired to carry out maintenance work on the road.
TOURIST RAFFLE
Taiwan’s eastern railway line is a popular tourist attraction on its less populated east coast.
With the help of multiple tunnels and bridges, you make your way through towering mountains and spectacular gorges before entering the picturesque Huadong Valley.
Friday’s crash took place near two of the most famous landmarks on the East Coast: the Tarako Gorge and the dramatic Qingshui Cliffs.
A world-class bullet train system also serves the heavily populated western side of the island.
Friday’s accident appears to be one of the worst rail accidents on record in Taiwan.
The last major train derailment in Taiwan was in 2018 and left 18 people dead on the same eastern line.
That accident was the worst on the island since 1991, when 30 passengers died.
Other major accidents that killed dozens of people occurred in 1981, 1978 and 1961.
The deadliest rail disaster on record in Taiwan was in 1948 when a train caught fire and 64 people died.
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