Premier offers to quit over tragedy

Tang Fei (唐飛) yesterday offered his resignation to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to take full political responsibility in a bid to ease public outrage over the Pachang Creek (八掌溪) tragedy.

However, Chen declined to accept the resignation, and instead encouraged him to conquer the challenges that the new government is facing.

"The new government has no excuse for mishandling the rescue. The only thing I can do is to resign," Tang said at a press conference held yesterday morning.

Four workers conducting riverbed work in Pachang Creek found themselves overwhelmed by a rapidly rising torrent on Saturday afternoon. The four waited in vain for a rescue helicopter and finally were swept into the muddy water and drowned.

Only two bodies have been found so far, while public outrage over the government's failure to mount a rescue continues to rise.

Chen called an urgent Cabinet meeting around 8pm yesterday to work out how to minimize the political damage the event has caused his administration.

Tang held a second review meeting yesterday morning to clarify details and responsibilities concerning the rescue delay.

A demerit was handed down to 13 ministers, including Director of the National Fire Administration Chen Horng-i (陳弘毅), Director-General of the National Police Administration Ting Yuan-chin (丁原進) and the Ministry of National Defense's war command deputy, Major General Chung Shen-ning (鍾申寧). Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) and Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-sen (伍世文) had both requested penalties for themselves, but were denied by Tang.

Tang has authorized the Military Rescue and Coordination Center (國軍搜救協調中心) to take full responsibility for the search for the two missing workers.

"Poor communications and a lack of ability to deal with a crisis led to the failure of the rescue. The first "life-critical" 32 minutes had been wasted on following administrative procedure authorizing the dispatch of the rescue team. We will thoroughly review the government's mechanism to deal with such a situation and strengthen rescue forces and equipment," Tang said.

He then dispatched Secretary-General of the Cabinet Wea Chi-lin (魏啟林) and Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) to call on and send condolences to the families of victims.

The body of Liu Chih (劉智) was pulled from the mud of the Pachang Creek yesterday at about 2pm. Liu's relatives identified the body.

The military has vowed to keep up its search effort, while the families of the two missing victims, Yang Tzu-chung (楊子忠) and Wu Mei-kui (吳梅桂), said they were still praying for a miracle.

Each of the four victims or their families are entitled to NT$200,000 in compensation under the National Compensation Law. In addition, the victims' families can claim compensation for occupational injury and death according to the Labor Insurance Law (勞保條例).

Approximately NT$820,000 will be awarded to Yang Tzu-chung, who is covered by labor insurance, while the remaining three are entitled to farmers' insurance of approximately NT$150,000.

The Council of Labor Affairs (勞委會) has said it will finalize the amounts today.

Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), Secretary-General to the Presidential Office, conveyed Chen's dissatisfaction with the handling of the incident.

"The president is both saddened and furious over the tragedy. He has ordered that further investigations into the government's negligence be conducted," Chang said.