The bodies of four people killed in a landslide on the Formosa Freeway (National Freeway No. 3) on Sunday were recovered yesterday morning.
The victims were identified as Lee Tse-Ying, 32, Kuo Wen-han (郭文漢), 30, Lin Huei-shin (林惠馨), 55, and Yeh Mao-chu (葉茂竹), also 55.
Rescuers found Lee and Kuo’s bodies at 2:37am and 3:40am respectively. The couple were scheduled to marry in June.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Following the discovery, Kuo’s uncle criticized the National Freeway Bureau for labeling the landslide “a natural disaster.”
“It was sunny and clear when the incident occurred. There was no rain or earthquake,” he said in a TV news interview.
“We are victims of this incident and have yet to talk about the possibility of national compensation, yet, [the government] was busy passing the buck by calling it a natural disaster,” he said.
Lin, a driver with Taiwan Taxi Co, was to celebrate her birthday tomorrow. Lin’s son said he had almost lost the will to live after finding out about his mother’s death.
“She will always be my mom,” he said.
Yeh’s wife said she hoped her children would remember their father’s love for them.
Media reports had also said a silver Mercedes-Benz had been passing through the area when the landslide occurred. The driver, Chang Wen-yong (張文勇), later contacted the Keelung Fire Department to report that he was alive.
The Keelung Prosecutors’ Office said that all four victims had intracranial and intrathoracic hemorrhages as well as fractured skulls, among other wounds. The office said it has formed a special taskforce to investigate the cause of the landslide and determine whether it was caused by human error.
Three cars and four people were buried in the slide, which covered 300m of the Keelung-Sijhih section with 200,000m of soil and rock. At 1pm yesterday, the National Freeway Bureau had removed 61,128 tonnes of earth and rocks from the freeway.
Traffic congestion continued on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (National Freeway No. 1) during rush hour, with traffic up 26 percent compared with last Wednesday.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said that clearing work would continue and that aerial photos would be posted on the Internet to help the public follow the progress.
In response to complaints about labeling the slide a natural disaster, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said: “It’s a misunderstanding. No one has said that it was a natural calamity.”
Wu said the government would determine whether there were unexpected natural factors behind the landslide or if it was caused by construction defects.
The government would also conduct a thorough investigation into roads built along dip slopes to prevent any recurrences, he said.
The government approved compensation of NT$1 million (US$31,800) for each victim in accordance with the measures governing distribution of natural disaster relief funds. Officials delivered the condolence money to families of the victims yesterday.
Asked by reporters if the government would compensate the victims under to the State Compensation Act (國家賠償法) if civil servants or government agencies were found to be responsible, Wu said the problem would be dealt with according to the law.
On behalf of the government, Wu said he felt deeply sorry for the families’ losses.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed his regret and led participants in observing a minute of silence before the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND CNA
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS