A Tzuchiang-class train operating along the South Link Line (南迴鐵路) derailed yesterday after running into a mudslide on the mountain slopes north of the Dawu Tunnel (大武隧道). Fortunately the about 250 passengers on board were not injured.
The train, which left New Zuo-ying (新左營) at 12:25pm yesterday, was traveling toward Hualien. After exiting the Dawu Tunnel in Taitung County at 2:27pm, the driver saw a mound of rubble lying on the tracks and immediately hit the breaks, but the train was unable to stop in time, as it was going at 90kph.
The impact derailed the first car of the train, but damage was not severe because the train had already slowed to 40kph when it hit the rubble, Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) officials said.
Photo: Chen Fong-li, Taipei Times
After TRA personnel arrived on the scene, they decoupled the first two cars and sent passengers back to Dawu station on the four remaining cars, TRA officials said.
Buses were also dispatched to transfer passengers to Lungsi Station, where they were able to continue on their northbound journey.
The Central Emergency Operations Center yesterday said that days of heavy rain around the nation created by a frontal system converging with the southwest monsoon have so far claimed six lives, injured 11 and left two people missing.
Casualties caused by landslides or flooding were recorded in Nantou County and Greater Taichung, as well as in New Taipei City (新北市) and Taoyuan County, the center said in a press release.
About 7,120 people were evacuated from disaster zones or areas at risk of mudslides around the country, it added.
Although the rain has abated, heavy downpours were still forecast for some areas in central and southern Taiwan, with generally unstable weather expected to continue nationwide, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The public still needs to pay attention to the potential danger from rain-triggered disasters, such as road collapses and falling rocks, it said.
Meanwhile, 285 riverside locations in Greater Kaohsiung, Greater Tainan and Greater Taichung, as well as in the counties of Nantou, Chiayi and Pingtung remained on red alert for mudslides, while yellow alerts were issued by the Council of Agriculture earlier in the day for 398 mudslide-prone spots nationwide.
Agricultural losses throughout the country have reached NT$317.1 million (US$10.57 million) since the rain began on June 9, the council said.
Damage to agricultural produce topped the list of losses, totaling NT$181.6 million, with rice, leafy vegetables and seasonal fruit among the worst-hit.
Among the worst-affected areas were Chiayi County in the south, which suffered estimated losses of NT$93.9 million, Taoyuan County in the north, Nantou County in the center, and Pingtung County and Greater Kaohsiung in the south.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS