Chen meets with families of Pachang Creek victims

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday visited the families of the four Chiayi construction workers washed away by floodwaters on Saturday and offered his apologies to the bereaved families in person.

Chen told the families that the government was at fault and would take full responsibility, promising the families compensation and to help take care of their livelihoods.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Chen offered an official apology for the government's failure to rescue the workers in time, amid criticism over what was called the government's incompetence.

Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) first offered to resign on Monday to show the government's accountability, but the resignation was rejected by Chen.

Instead, Vice Premier Yu Shyi-kun, who also headed the Cabinet's disaster prevention and rescue task force, resigned on Tuesday to take the blame.

National Police Administration Director-General Ting Yuan-chin (丁原進) and National Fire Administration Director-general Chen Hung-yi (陳弘毅) have also offered to resign.

Red tape and poor coordination between the air force and police has been blamed for the delayed dispatch of a rescue helicopter.

In addition, local fire-fighters were also blamed for not being able to implement effective measures to help the workers when they needed rescuing.

Continuing their pressure on the government, opposition lawmakers yesterday demanded that Vice Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) step down, on the grounds that the Ministry of the Interior is the authority mandated with overseeing the National Police Administration and National Fire Administration.

"Many agencies were responsible for the incident, and the fire-fighting and air police forces that were responsible for much of the mismanagement are all under the Ministry of the Interior," said Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), a key leader of the KMT caucus in the legislature.

Both Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) and Lee tendered their resignations on Tuesday but were asked by Tang to stay on.

The lawmakers, from the KMT, New Party and People First Party, said that since Chang was abroad when the tragedy took place, Lee should be the one to take political responsibility on behalf of the interior ministry.

In response, Chang said the fatal incident was being "over-politicized" by the opposition parties.