Preliminary results from an investigation into Tuesday’s tour bus fire showed that an emergency exit on the left rear side of the bus was operational, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Twenty-four Chinese tourists and two Taiwanese — the bus driver and tour guide — died after their bus caught fire on National Freeway No. 2 en route to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Police and passing truck drivers failed in their attempts to open an emergency exit on the left rear side of the bus from the outside, investigators said, adding that they are trying to determine whether the external handle on that exit was damaged when the bus hit the guardrails, during the fire or during attempts to clear the site.
Photo: Richie B. Tongo, EPA
The left rear emergency exit was operational and could be opened from the inside, investigators said.
Another exit on the right rear of the bus had already been opened, presumably before the first collision with the guardrail, they added.
However, investigators said that after the collision the door could not be opened properly as it was wedged against the guardrail.
Photo: Taipei Times
As the right rear exit had to be activated by the driver, investigators said they were still trying to determine whether the door had been opened by the driver, Su Ming-cheng (蘇明成), or one of the passengers.
This detail might prove critical in understanding the case, as an autopsy of Su showed that he suffered from smoke inhalation before his death, investigators said, adding that they had not ruled out the possibility that Su had been knocked unconscious in the collision.
Prosecutors said they are trying to determine if a fire extinguisher found in the bus had been used.
Investigators are also looking into why the bus continued along the highway after smoke was first seen at the 4.2km mark of the freeway, when the bus had slowed to between 20kph and 30kph.
“We are also looking into what happened between the 4.2km mark, at the 2.9km mark where the bus hit the outer guardrail and where it crashed into the inner guardrail at the 2.8km mark,” the team said.
The office said it was releasing information to keep victims’ family members informed.
The office held an information session at the Chuto Plaza Hotel in Taoyuan at 8:30pm for the victims’ family members, who arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4pm.
Forty-nine family members, as well as 21 Chinese officials were taken to a funeral parlor in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) after their arrival.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique