A Taiwanese tourist was killed in a traffic accident while traveling in China's Heilongjiang Province yesterday morning.
The tourist, identified as 68-year-old retired teacher Chu Sung-tsuan (朱松川) from Sijih (汐止) in Taipei County, was traveling with a group of 28 Taiwanese tourists on a 26-day sightseeing trip around Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang.
The group’s tour guide and nine other tourists were also injured in the accident.
The injured were being treated in a hospital in Jiamusi, with most of them suffering fractures to different parts of their bodies.
The other tourists are now resting at a hotel in Jiamusi.
Yao Ta-kuan (姚大光), chairman of the Travel Agent Association (TAA), said that the tour was organized by Taipei-based Whole Tours (大全旅行社). Members of the group were mostly retirees, he said.
Yao said the accident happened at 8:30am yesterday, when the group was scheduled to head to a scenic spot in Mishan after having breakfast in Tongchiang, about a two-hour drive from Jiamusi. He said that the bus was on a two-way road on the outskirts of Tongchiang when a farming vehicle coming in the opposite direction made an unexpected left turn in the middle of the road.
The bus slammed into the vehicle, flipped onto its side and fell into a ditch.
Yao said that Whole Tours informed the association about the accident at around 10:30am. The association requested the assistance of both the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
The TAA has further dispatched its Chinese Affairs Committee director, Hsu Shu-ling (�?�), to China to act as its representative in handling the matter.
Hsu helped arrange charter flights to bring back Taiwanese tourists stuck in Sichuan Province after the major earthquake there last month.
Hsu said that emergency medical charter flights would be activated after they assess the physical condition of the injured tourists and the coverage of their travel insurance.
The association said the 26-day tour cost NT$56,900. The bus involved was owned by China’s King Long Bus and has only been in operation for three years.
Should any tourist wish to stay and finish the remainder of the tour, the association would help them as well, Yao said.
The Straits Exchange Foundation yesterday afternoon said that the family members of the victims would be heading to Jiamusi tomorrow night.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
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