A 66-year old man, Ting Hsiang (
Ting was sent to Chung Hsiao Hospital with what the hospital described as serious burns to his right arm and leg.
Police said Chang was carrying seven or eight 500cc bottles of sulfuric acid in a cardboard box on the Chuguang-class train from Hualien to Shulin City.
Chang was was to get off the train at Taipei's Sungshan Station, but some of the bottles broke when the train stopped at the station.
Ting, sitting under the luggage shelf, was injured as acid poured from the broken bottles.
Railway staff used cold water to cool Ting's wounds before he was sent to the hospital.
The Railway Police Bureau is handling the case, which will be referred to prosecutors with a recommendation that a charge of negligence causing bodily harm be brought against Chang.
Chang said that the acid was to have been used in a demonstration of a chemical experiment at Nantao Chichi primary school.
The Taiwan Railway Administration said yesterday said that dangerous goods are prohibited from being carried on the trains, but conceded that no safety checks are made. It said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications posts notices at stations warning passengers about restrictions on four categories of dangerous products.
These include inflammables which burn at under 60 degrees Celsius, explosive chemicals; combustible items and chemicals harmful to people, such as sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid.
RSS