A bridge in Yilan County collapsed yesterday morning, killing two people, while four remained trapped and at least 10 were injured, including six severely wounded, the National Fire Agency (NFA) said.
The landmark arch Nanfangao Bridge (南方澳橋) hovering above the entry to the port suddenly ruptured and fell to the ground at about 9:30am, crushing three fishing boats, and an oil tank truck just about to exit the bridge at the time fell to the ground and caught fire.
The fire was extinguished shortly after and the driver was rescued.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
Except for the Taiwanese truck driver, the other nine injured were foreigners — six Filipinos and three Indonesians working on the fishing boats caught in the accident.
Six fishers were initially reported as missing.
At press time last night, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that two bodies had been found, whose identities were still being determined, while the other four were believed to be trapped.
Photo: CNA
The six are believed to be Indonesian and Filipino workers, Yilan County Labor Affairs Department Director-General Wu Chih-hung (吳志宏) said, citing information from a labor broker.
Their employer owns five boats and employs 23 migrant fishers, Wu added.
The Coast Guard Administration said it had dispatched three ships to the scene and deployed 66 people for the search-and-rescue mission.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
It has also set up an emergency response center to deal with any issues.
A Black Hawk helicopter operated by the Ministry of National Defense took off from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 11am to take over site surveillance, which was earlier provided by an NA101 chopper of the National Airborne Service Corps, the NFA said.
Authorities are trying to determine the cause of the collapse. Initial information received by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications indicated that a collapse of the bridge piers might be to blame.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
Transportation officials said it was not yet possible to determine if a magnitude 3.8 earthquake that occurred at 1:45am yesterday in waters off Hualien County and registered an intensity of 4 in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) had anything to do with the incident.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday that it had relayed the names of the injured and missing fishers to the two nations’ representative offices in Taiwan.
The offices have sent officials to care for their nationals at the scene, the ministry said, adding that it would provide assistance and stay in close contact with the representative offices and agencies involved in rescue efforts.
The landmark bridge, completed in 1998, was the only single steel arch bridge in Taiwan and was the first bifurcated single-arch bridge in Asia.
Measuring 140m long and 15m wide, it sat across a waterway in the Nanfangao fishing port and was high enough to allow larger fishing boats to pass underneath.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) pledged to donate NT$10 million (US$322,113) to the Yilan County Government to assist with rescue efforts.
The donation is to be made though the Yonglin Foundation, of which Gou is the founder and chairman, and will go toward disaster response, as well as medical and other expenses for victims, a statement issued by Gou’s office said.
Sharp Taiwan also pledged to give NT$1 million to the disaster effort, at the initiative of Tai Cheng-wu (戴正吳), president of Hon Hai subsidiary Sharp Corp, according to the statement.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
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
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
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