Passengers were evacuated from a high-speed rail train yesterday morning after suspect items were found in one of the train’s toilets, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) said yesterday.
The company said the conductor on train No. 616 received complaints from passengers at about 9:10am that the women’s toilet in cabin No. 11 contained two pieces of luggage which emitted a strange odor. The company informed the High Speed Rail Police Division, which later boarded the train when it stopped at Hsinchu station.
The traffic control center decided to evacuate passengers after the train stopped at Taoyuan station at 9:45am. More than 600 people were asked to disembark and continue their journey on another train.
Police found that the luggage contained an unidentified liquid in cans and alarm clocks, as well as white particulate matter. The items were later dismantled by the bomb squad and taken to the Criminal Investigation Bureau for further examination.
Ku Jung-tseng (古榮增), deputy director of the High Speed Rail Police Division, said no detonator was found.
The police also said that they would review surveillance tapes to identify any possible suspects.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) was on the train when the incident occurred.
“After the inspection, they [the police] discovered that there were items of luggage reeking of gasoline,” Lu said.
“I heard that they questioned every passenger in the cabin trying to find out who the owner of the luggage was, but no one admitted to it,” Lu said.
THSRC spokesperson Tao Ling-yu (陶令瑜) said all passengers affected by the incident would be given a coupon allowing them to purchase a high-speed ticket for their next journey at half price, even though the train company was not to blame for the incident.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS