A car was hit by falling rocks on the eastern section of the Southern Cross-Island Highway just after midnight yesterday, immediately killing 40-year-old Yang Chien-yi (楊千儀), who suffered severe head wounds.
The 26-year-old driver, Chen Chun-tsai (陳俊才), his 29-year-old brother, Chen Chun-hsiung (陳俊雄), and 28-year-old Hsieh Yao-tse (謝曜澤) were all injured and transported to Tzu-chi Hospital in Kuanshan Township (關山), Taitung County.
Because of the extent of their injuries, the two brothers were transferred to Hualien’s Tzu-chi Hospital for further treatment later yesterday.
Police said the Taitung County fire department received a report of the accident and police from nearby Hsiangyang precinct hurried to the scene, joined later by the fire department. Police from Chishang (池上), Haituan (海端) and Kuanshan townships also sent rescue personnel and ambulances.
When they reached the site of the accident, police said the landslide had made the road slippery and that the car appeared to have been hit by rocks ranging in size from 100kg to 2 tonnes.
Hsieh, who had only suffered an injury to his left hand, had already managed to get out of the car and had helped Chen Chun-hsiung out of the front passenger seat.
Hsieh said he and Yang had been on a photo assignment in Taitung, but got a flat tire. They had then hitched a ride with the two brothers.
Yang, who was sitting in the back seat, was already dead when rescue personnel arrived, police said, and Chen Chin-tsai was trapped in the driver’s seat.
It took rescuers almost an hour to free him from the wreckage.
The two brothers suffered facial injuries and broken legs, police said.
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