Three Taiwanese were killed yesterday morning and two injured in a rockfall in China’s Three Gorges area, the Straits Exchange Foundation said.
The five were part of a 45-person tour organized by Trans Continental Travel Service Co (東晟旅行社), a Taipei travel agency, the foundation said in a statement.
The foundation said it had contacted its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and the Mainland Affairs Council after the fatal accident occurred in Yichang, Hubei Province.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of the Yichang City Government
It has also formed a “1015 task force” to help and has been trying to coordinate with the Tourism Bureau and authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to provide assistance to the victims and their family members, the foundation said, adding that staff would accompany the relatives of the victims to China.
Rescue crews are continuing their search for survivors, it said.
The tour group, made up of two tour guides and 43 tourists mainly from the Theater Association of Taiwan (台灣戲院公會), is on a seven-day visit to China that started on Friday, the travel agency said.
The decade-old association represents movie theaters nationwide and often negotiates on their behalf with international film distributors and companies.
Two men, aged 49 and 54, and a woman aged 55, were killed by falling rocks as they walked around the scenic site, while another man and woman were injured, the travel agency said.
Thirty members of the group have decided to continue the tour as scheduled, while 10 remained with the two who were injured, it said.
The travel agency said it would help the families of the three people who died file insurance claims, which should amount to NT$3 million (US$99,387) per person.
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) and foundation Chairman Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) expressed great concern over the accident and have directed their agencies to provide all necessary assistance.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said Chinese authorities have activated a mechanism for response to emergencies associated with Taiwan.
The office would coordinate with agencies in Taiwan and China to help handle the aftermath of the accident, he said.
Hubei has been inundated by rare autumn floods since the beginning of this month as heavy rains have battered the province, the state-owned China News Service reported.
More than 2.79 million people have been affected, and Yichang is now a major disaster area, the report said.
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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
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