Two buses collided in the 12.9km Hsuehshan Tunnel in northeastern Taiwan yesterday, causing two deaths and injuring more than 20 people, two of them seriously.
The collision, which occurred at 1:27pm, caused a passenger bus to catch fire after it was rear-ended by another bus at the 26km marker on the southbound side of Freeway No. 5 in the Hsuehshan Tunnel, which links New Taipei City (新北市) and Yilan County, police said.
The Directorate-General of Highways confirmed that the collision occurred after a tire blew out on a car in front of the first bus, forcing the bus driver, employed by Kamalan Bus (葛瑪蘭客運), to stomp on the brakes, catching the driver of the following bus by surprise.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Fire Department
The second bus, owned by Capital Bus (首都客運), burst into flames after the collision, and the driver was killed in the fire, the agency said.
Firefighters extinguished the flames at 2:08pm, saying the injured, who mostly suffered from smoke inhalation, had been rushed to nearby hospitals.
The tunnel has been closed to traffic to facilitate rescue work, police said.
Photo: CNA
It was the most serious accident to occur in the tunnel since its opening in June 2006.
Considered a marvel of civil engineering and human perseverance, the tunnel took 15 years to complete.
National Freeway Bureau -Director-General Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) said one fire drill is held in the tunnel every season, with the most recent taking place on March 31 and April 1.
The drills focus on smoke and fume ventilation, and extinguishing flames, Tseng said.
Eight vehicle fires have -occurred in the tunnel. In all fires, the fire fighting team outsourced by the bureau — Shang Hung Gardening (尚宏園藝有限公司) — was able to put out the flames, Tseng said.
However, the fire from yesterday’s accident was too much for the gardening company to handle, and the bureau had to ask for help from fire stations in Yilan County and New Taipei City, Tseng said.
The Financial Supervisory Commission has directed insurance companies to help the victims and the family members of the deceased.
Miaoli-based Shang Hung -Gardening, which began -operations with less than NT$5 million (US$170,500) in paid-in capital, won a contract in 2010 to provide first-line firefighting services in the tunnel for three years.
Although the nearest the company had previously come to working on the national freeway system was the placement and maintenance of shrubs, hedges and flowers, its manager said at the time that his company was experienced enough to ensure the safety of the more than 40,000 vehicles that pass through the tunnel per day, adding that its firefighters were “very highly trained.”
Translation by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
RSS