An army CM-11 tank toppled into a creek in Pingtung County as it was returning to base from a training exercise yesterday morning, killing three of the five soldiers onboard, the army said.
The tank fell off a bridge into the Wangsha River (網紗溪), landing upside down.
The army quoted the driver, Private First Class Yang Yen-lin (楊炎霖), as saying that the tank’s left track was stuck and the brake was not functioning, and the incident occurred as he was making an attempt to turn left to cross the bridge.
Photo: CNA
Yang sustained only minor injuries and pulled himself out of the tank. The four others, who were inside the gun turret, could not escape through the turret’s hatches because the tank was upside down, he said.
Rescuers pulled them from the tank and sent them to a nearby hospital.
The four showed no vital signs at the scene, and Sergeant Chen Shih-kun (陳世坤), Corporal Chen Ping-yi (陳秉逸) and Private Chang Chih-wei (張志偉) were pronounced dead by the hospital.
However, doctors revived First Lieutenant Wu Te-wei (吳得瑋), though he remains in a coma, and he was transferred to Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital.
Eighth Army Command Commander Lieutenant General Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) and his staff apologized at an afternoon news conference, offering their condolences to the families of the five soldiers.
“The exact cause of the accident remains to be investigated. The driver’s description is the only account of the accident available now,” 8th Army Command Brigade Commander Huang Chung-shih (黃忠實) said.
Yang was trained as a tank driver following his enlistment and has about three years’ experience driving tanks, Huang said.
Asked if driver fatigue could have played a role in the accident, Huang said there was no training on Monday night.
“The CM-11 battle tanks were produced in 1991, and the tank in question was 25 years old. All tanks were examined prior to the exercise and no irregularity was found,” he said.
Yang was able to escape on his own because he was in a separate chamber with a separate hatch, Huang said.
“The four others could have gotten out of the tank by themselves if the gun turret could have rotated normally. However, the tank was upside down and the turret was stuck,” he said.
Yesterday’s exercise was part of a regular six-week drill, and it was not held in preparation for the annual Han Kuang exercises scheduled for next week, Chi said.
The CM-11 “Brave Tiger” tanks were linked to a graft case last year, in which members of the military allegedly received bribes and kickbacks to help a machinery company secure procurement contracts for the treads used in several models of combat tanks.
Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) has ordered Chief of General Staff General Yen De-fa (嚴德發) to lead a task force to investigate the incident.
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