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At least 51 people died this Friday in Taiwan when a train crashed with a vehicle that was on the tracks and derailed inside a tunnel, in the most serious rail accident on the island in decades.
The authorities indicated that the collision was caused by a maintenance vehicle that had slid down an embankment to the tracks, near the coastal city of Hualien, in the East.
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Several of the entrances to the carriages were destroyed.
“It is suspected that (the driver) did not pull enough on the handbrake so the vehicle slid 20 meters (..) to the train tracks“Deputy Director of the Taiwan Railway Authority, Feng Hui-sheng, told reporters.
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Local media photos taken at the scene show the back of an overturned yellow flatbed truck near the train. According to the Railway Agency of
Taiwan, 146 passengers were taken to the hospital and 51 people died.
It is suspected that (the driver) did not pull enough on the handbrake so the vehicle slid 20 meters (..) to the train tracks
First responders have had difficulty accessing some of the train cars.
Among those killed is a French citizen, while two Japanese and a Macau resident were injured. The President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, visited an emergency center in the capital, Taipei, and said that the incident will be investigated. “Of course, we will clarify the cause of the incident that has caused so many victims,” he told reporters.
“I hope that the deceased rest in peace and that the injured recover soon,” he added. The accident occurred around 9:30 a.m. (Taiwan local time) on the Taiwan East Line. LThe images published by the local media UDN show that the front of the train inside the tunnel had been devastated. The Taiwan Red Cross also released images of lifeguards wearing helmets and flashlights walking on the roof of the wrecked train inside the tunnel to reach the survivors.
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Rescuers entered the wagons to tend to the injured.
‘Sudden violent shaking’
Passengers in the rear of the convoy were able to escape the accident unscathed. “I felt as if there had been a sudden violent jolt and fell to the ground,” one woman told the television network. “We broke the window to get on the roof of the train and get out.”
This eight-car train, carrying about 480 passengers, was heading from Taipei to the city of Taitung, in the southeast of the island. Rescuers worked for hours to rescue the passengers trapped in the tunnel and get them out.
By mid-afternoon, the authorities indicated that no one was left inside the wagons, although dozens of rescuers remained at the scene, according to AFP reporters on the ground.
An aerial view shows rescuers working near the site where the train derailed
Holiday weekend
The accident coincides with the start of the annual grave-cleaning festival, a long holiday weekend that fills the roads and railroads of the country.
During this period, the inhabitants generally return to their hometowns to clean the graves of their relatives and make offerings. The eastern Taiwan railway line is often a tourist attraction because it runs along its splendid and less populated eastern coast.
Through multiple tunnels and bridges it winds through mountains and spectacular gorges before descending through the Huadong Valley. Friday’s accident is one of the worst railway catastrophes in Taiwan on record.
The last major derailment dates back to 2018, when 18 people died at the southern end of the same line. The driver of that eight-car train was then charged with negligent homicide. More than 200 of the 366 passengers were injured.
This accident was the worst since 1991, when 30 passengers were killed and 112 injured in the collision of two trains at Miaoli. The Apple Daily newspaper said the worst accident on the island was in 1948 and left 64 people dead.
Rescuers walk alongside a train that derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, April 2, 2021.
EFE / EPA / RITCHIE B. TONGO
AFP
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