Print

Mail

wiki links

Investigation into cause of fatal bus crash near Tainan continues

The wreckage from a deadly tour bus crash on Sunday lies overturned on a road in Tainan's Meiling Scenic Area yesterday after being pulled from the bottom of the ravine. The accident killed 21 and left 24 injured. PHOTO: LIN MENG-TING, TAIPEI TIMES

The investigation into the causes of a deadly bus accident that killed 21 people and left 24 injured in Tainan County on Sunday afternoon continued yesterday.

Tsai Ching-ping, (蔡清賓) the deputy director of the Yujing branch of the Tainan county police bureau, said he would not comment on whether the accident was caused by mechanical failure, human error or poor road conditions until after an expert investigation has been concluded.

However, he said that the mountainous stretch of road near the Meiling Scenic Area where the accident occurred had been the site of other accidents.

"There have been five accidents that I can remember in recent years on that road," Tsai said. "In addition to being steep, the roads are very narrow. We might recommend in the future that buses with a capacity larger than 20 passengers be banned from that road."

According to Tsai, the bus involved in the accident was a 1988 model, making it 18 years old at the time of the accident.

"This is not unusual for tour buses in Taiwan," Tsai said. "While the paint might be new, there's no way to tell the real condition of the vehicle."

The vehicle in question last passed an inspection in October.

The bus was registered under Ba Fang Transportation, although it was independently owned by a man surnamed Li, Tsai said.

It is still unclear whether the registered driver or his assistant was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident, he said.

After the accident, the Department of Railways and Highways ordered Ba Fang Transportation not to make any changes to its 29 buses, all of which will now undergo thorough inspections.

Tsai said that all the passengers on the bus involved in the accident have now been identified. Including the driver and his assistant, there were 25 adults and 20 children on the bus at the time of the accident.

Of the 21 dead, four were children. The tour group on the bus consisted of members and family of the Parents' Association at Kaohsiung's Municipal Ding Jin Elementary school. The group was on a one-day sightseeing trip to the Meiling Scenic Area when the accident occurred.

Meanwhile, what was supposed to be a budget review meeting for the Bureau of High Speed Rail turned into a question and answer session about the fatal bus accident.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) looked exhausted at a meeting of the Transportation Committee in the legislature yesterday after returning from Tainan at 5am.

As expected, he took accident-related questions from lawmakers ranging from the number of the nation's tour buses that have been operated for more than 10 years to what the ministry planned to do to prevent similar accidents from happening again.

Tsai Duei said yesterday that the ministry would deliver a comprehensive report on all of the nations hazardous sections of road within three months. The ministry also plans to pursue legislation that would ban the use of tour buses that have been operated for more than eight to 12 years, Tsai Duei said.

According to Tsai Duei, the ministry will also seek to ban tour buses from installing retreaded tires.

An investigative report into the accident should be released within two weeks, he said.

"I am really sorry for the losses [of family members]," Tsai Duei said, "but please give us some time so we can understand what really happened. I will not evade my share of responsibility nor will I pass the buck to someone else."

Nevertheless, lawmakers criticized the transportation ministry for the major accidents that have happened during the past few years.

"Two ministers have stepped down since the accident in Jiufen (九份) happened two years ago," said People First Party Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞). "The issues that I raised in the committee have never been solved."

Meanwhile, legislators serving on the transportation committee asked the ministry to review all the issues related to the accident, including the management of tour bus companies.

Statistics from the Directorate-General of Highways indicate that a total of 11,925 tour buses now operate in Taiwan. Of them, about 4,300 of them have been in operation for more than 10 years.

During the three months from July through September, the directorate recorded eight major violations by Ba Fang Transportation.

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday demanded that Tsai Duei establish a task force to find out the reason for the accident, Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said yesterday.

Su also asked Tsai Duei to come up with measures to prevent such accidents in the future, Cheng said.
This story has been viewed 2198 times.