The driver of a tour bus that crashed and caught fire in Taoyuan, killing all on board, was drunk when the accident happened, prosecutors said yesterday.
In the worst road accident ever to hit Chinese visitors to Taiwan, an entire tour group of 24 died when their bus was engulfed in flames and rammed through a freeway barrier last week.
Tests on the remains of the driver — who died in the crash, alongside a Taiwanese tour guide — found an alcohol concentration of 1.075 milligrams per liter (mg/L), prosecutors said in a statement.
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
That put the driver, Su Ming-cheng (蘇明成), at more than four times the legal limit of 0.25mg/L.
“He was drunk driving — a very severe case of drunk driving,” Taoyuan District Prosecutor Wang Yi-wen (王以文) said.
The discovery means the probe is to focus more on the driver’s mental and physical state, he added.
Prosecutors are delving into Su’s habits, diet and social circle to determine why he might have been driving over the legal limit, Wang said.
Tests did not find any traces of drugs or sedatives in his system, the statement said.
Prosecutors have already said that five bottles of gasoline were found on the bus, despite regulations banning inflammable substances in vehicles.
Prosecutors have searched the driver’s home twice, and questioned his relatives and coworkers.
Local media reports said that Su, the main breadwinner in his family, struggled financially and interacted little with his colleagues.
The bus carrying the tourists from Dalian, China, was heading to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday last week after the group had completed an eight-day trip to the nation.
Distraught relatives who came to Taiwan to identify the bodies of the victims questioned why none of them were able to escape through the emergency exits when the fire ripped through the bus.
One eyewitness said trapped passengers inside the bus had been pounding on the windows as it careered off the road.
Officials in Beijing have demanded that Taiwan take measures to ensure the safety of Chinese visitors.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
RSS