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Yu blamed for TV reporter's death

The younger brother of Alex Ping -- a TTV news reporter who drowned Monday while covering Typhoon Nock-Ten -- yesterday held a traditional spirit-calling ceremony next to the river which claimed his brother's life. PHOTO: CNA

Opposition parties yesterday lambasted Premier Yu Shyi-kun for inviting the media to cover a trip to a water diversion channel. A surge of floodwater from the Keelung River caused a television reporter to drown near the site Monday.

The Keelung Prosecutor's Office, meanwhile, launched an investigation into the matter yesterday to see whether any government official committed involuntary manslaughter.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Publicity Department Director Justin Chou (周守訓) said that Yu should be held morally responsible for the tragedy and that Government Information Office (GIO) Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) should apologize to the media for the blunder.

"While the premier should shoulder the moral responsibility for the matter, he has refused to do so," he said. "Director Lin, who doesn't have the guts to apologize, insinuated that the media are, on the other hand, the ones to blame." Chou made the remarks at KMT headquarters yesterday morning in response to government officials' reactions to the accident earlier on the legislative floor.

Although Yu said that he felt "sorry and distraught" over the mishap and instructed the deceased reporter's company, the state-owned TV station TTV, to offer the highest pension possible to family members, he remained evasive about whether he should be held morally responsible.

Lin said that the media did not go to the scene to cover the premier's trip but to cover the activation of the Yuanshanzih floodwater diversion channel.

Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said that reporters put their lives on the line by ignoring the warning of a construction worker who had advised them not to cross the water.

"Besides, the reporter was not killed by the diverted floodwater but by the rising water in the river," she said.

Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) berated opposition parties for making allegations without first checking the facts.

The accident occurred Monday morning when a group of reporters were waiting for Yu to show up at the channel in Rueifang, Taipei County. The GIO sent text messages to the media at 9:43am to inform them of Yu's visit to the channel at 10:40am and to Baochungkeng River in Sijhih at 11:10am.

At 11:04am, the GIO sent another text message to inform the media that the trip to Baochungkeng was cancelled. The channel was opened at 10:25 am without Yu. At 11:29am, the GIO informed the media that the trip to the channel was cancelled because Yu's motorcade was blocked by fallen rocks on the way.

Without knowing of the cancellation of Yu's visits, four reporters were caught in the floodwaters while waiting at the site. While three reporters were rescued in time, one TV reporter drowned.

KMT Legislator Chiang Chi-wen (江綺雯) describing Yu's visits to the channel as a "political stunt."

"I'm very curious to know why the premier visited the site again while it was not the first time the channel was activated," she said.

The channel was activated for the very first time on Sept. 11 this year when the water level in Keelung River rose by 5m.

People First Party (PFP) legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that Yu should have stayed at the disaster command center in Taipei instead of putting his and reporters' lives in jeopardy.
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