One man died and 10 other people were injured in a car accident on the Alishan Highway yesterday.
The Chiayi Fire Department said that the accident happened at the 30km post of the highway, which is close to the tree bank of the Chiayi Forest District Office.
A preliminary investigation by police showed that the accident occurred at about 11:20am, when a black minivan collided with another van after a failed attempt to overtake the vehicle in front.
Witnesses told police that the black minivan was weaving in and out of traffic at a high speed before the collision. Prior to running into the van, the black minivan almost hit another sedan as well, they said.
Police said the van that was hit by the minivan was carrying 10 people: eight adults and two children. They were all members of a family surnamed Tsai (蔡) from Yunlin County’s Beigang Township (北港) and were about to return home after worshipping at a temple.
Firefighters completed the rescue mission at 11:58am, but a man died on the way to hospital.
The man died of severe head injuries, pneumothorax and internal bleeding.
Police said they were still investigating the cause of the accident.
In other news, about 100 passengers of Zest Airways refused to disembark after the plane landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning, saying the airline’s error had disrupted their travel palns.
The Manila-based airline was forced to delay a flight leaving from Taoyuan Airport to Boracay, Philippines, on Saturday due to mechanical problems, causing 173 passengers to be stranded at the airport.
The airline later dispatched another plane from Boracay to pick up the 173 passengers at Taoyuan airport.
However, this delayed the return trip of another group of 101 passengers in Boracay, who were scheduled to arrive at Taoyuan airport at 10:20pm on Saturday. They ended up arriving yesterday morning.
The passengers complained that they were unable to return home on time due to the airline’s mishandling of the situation, adding that the airline even gave them cold bento boxes.
Zest asked aviation police to intervene and sent a representative to negotiate with the passengers.
The conflict lasted about an hour and ended after the airline agreed to pay each passenger NT$2,000 in compensation.
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