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Narrow escape as train derails

Passengers nervously wait for fellow travellers, friends and relatives to be rescued from a derailed train yesterday. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES

A train derailed and tipped onto its side while passing over a bridge yesterday, throwing four passengers through broken windows onto a riverbank and injuring 43 others who were bounced around inside the cars.

Passing over the Nankang Creek Bridge (南港橋) in Miaoli County, which connects Chunan (竹南) and Chaochiao (造橋), four of the train's nine cars tilted onto their left side and skidded to a halt, police said.

Miaoli is 90km south of Taipei.

The injured, most suffering from cuts and bruises, were rushed to a nearby hospital. Some of the most serious injuries passengers incurred were fractured arms and legs. Most of the injured were discharged yesterday afternoon. Late last night 20 of those injured remained in hospitals in Miaoli. Three of the injured were in intensive care, railway officials said.

The Taiwan Railway Administration said that it would pay between NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 in compensation to individuals who were injured during the accident.

It was unclear what had caused the accident.

The railway administration said that just 13 minutes before the mishap, a Tzichiang (自強號) train had passed the same spot and everything seemed normal.

The Chuguang-class (莒光號) train departed from Keelung bound for Chiayi at 7:38am and the accident took place at 10:15am.

According to passengers' accounts, the sixth car of the nine- car train began belching white smoke before the train's emergency brake was applied and, seconds later, the train derailed.

The locomotive, along with the first, second, third, seventh and eighth cars, derailed. The fourth car tipped to one side, and the fifth and sixth cars ended up hanging precariously on the edge of the bridge. Only the ninth car remained on the track.

The railway administration quickly mobilized large cranes to help remove the cars which were trapped on the bridge, in order to facilitate the resumption of traffic.

Mountain line train traffic which runs between Chunan and Changhua was suspended after the accident, although one way traffic was able to resume after 4pm.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan(葉菊蘭) arrived at the scene shortly after the accident.

Over the past 10 years, Taiwan's railways have experienced 223 accidents. Yesterday's accident was the second serious accident this year.
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