Prosecutors investigating Sunday's crash in which a coach plunged into a ravine on Taipei's Yangmingshan said yesterday that brake failure may have caused the accident.
Shihlin prosecutor Hsieh Jung-lin (謝榮林), who examined the crash site on Sunday night and yesterday morning, told reporters the initial investigation had found the bus' brakes were not working properly.
He said the bus was equipped with illegal tires and its body had been refitted. Hsieh said the poor condition of the body led the roof to come off as it plunged down the ravine throwing passengers from the vehicle.
Hsieh said he interviewed the bus driver Hsu Chih-hung (許志宏) yesterday morning in hospital. Hsu told prosecutors he applied the brakes but they did not work. He shouted a warning to the passengers just before the accident occurred.
The prosecutor said responsibility for the accident would be assessed after a traffic incident exam report was completed.
Three people suffered minor injuries in two cars hit by the bus as it careened off the road.
Rescue work continued until yesterday morning after efforts were initially hampered by darkness, the steepness of the ravine and the fact that many of the passengers were trapped in the bus.
The bus passengers were staff members of Shaklee Corp, a US direct sales company.
Roger Barnett and other Shaklee managers, who were in Taiwan for a conference, visited the injured and families of the dead to offer their sympathies.
The injured have received between NT$50,000 and NT$100,000 in emergency compensation and families of the deceased NT$200,000.
According to a Shaklee press release, the victims will be eligible for further compensation from insurance of up to NT$4 million for each deceased passenger coming from an accident and an accidental death policy of NT$1.5 million and NT$2.5 million respectively.
Injured passengers should be eligible to NT$550,000 in compensation -- NT$250,000 from an injured passenger policy and NT$200,000 from an accident policy, according to the same source.
In all, 33 people were involved in the accident -- 29 Shaklee affiliates and their family and friends plus the driver, and three people in the vehicles hit by the bus. Eight fatalities have been confirmed.
The most seriously injured victim is 40-year-old Lin Feng-chiao (林鳳嬌) who remained in critical condition after 17 hours of surgery at Tamsui's Mackay hospital.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is considering advising tour bus passengers to wear seatbelts if they are traveling in mountainous areas.
Tour bus service operators are required to install seatbelts on all seats but passengers are not obliged to fasten them.
Department of Railways and Highways director-general Ying Chen-pong (尹承蓬) said yesterday that research has shown that many countries around the world have mandated that tour bus passengers wear seatbelts, including Britain, Germany, the US and Australia.
Meanwhile, the department's deputy director-general Chen Yen-po (
Chen said that the department will use the several methods including rollover tests on a complete vehicle, quasi-static loading tests of body sections and a computer simulation of the basic rollover test on a complete vehicle.
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