The government yesterday vowed to complete within a week an investigation into the liability of government officials following the collapse of the Fengciou Tunnel (豐丘隧道) in Nantou County and the Houfeng Bridge (后豐大橋) in Taichung County.
The bridge, which connects Houli (后里) and Fengyuan (豐原), collapsed into the Dajia River on Sunday evening when the heavy rains brought by Typhoon Sinlaku battered the bridge’s footings. The incident caused at least one death, with five people still missing, as three cars plummeted into the river when the bridge collapsed.
The collapse of the tunnel on Monday left several people and cars buried inside. After more than 20 hours of search and rescue operations, workers found the final missing body part of victim Wang Shu-mei (王淑美) yesterday. She was among three victims whose bodies were severed when mudslides collapsed the tunnel.
PHOTO: TUNG CHEN-KUO, TAIPEI TIMES
Visiting the area yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asked the Nantou County Government to present a report within a week on who should be held responsible for the collapse of the tunnel. He also demanded that the county government assist the victims’ families in seeking compensation for the loss of their loved ones.
Dismissing criticism that Ma had taken too long to visit the disaster areas, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday that the president had delegated responsibility to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), who visited disaster areas on Monday and Tuesday. Ma had been busy with other engagements in Taipei on those days, which is why he visited Nantou County yesterday, Wang said.
Meanwhile, Liu also vowed a complete investigation into the liability of government officials over the collapse of the Houfeng Bridge.
“The problems with the bridge did not arise in two days. I want to conduct a thorough probe [into the case],” he said.
Liu said holding Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) solely responsible for the incident was unfair.
“But it is Minister Mao’s job to fully investigate the history of the bridge and other dangerous bridges, including when they were listed as needing immediate repair, when a related budget was allocated and when repair projects were contracted out,” he said.
When asked to comment on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) and Chiu Yi (邱毅) calls for Mao to step down and take responsibility for the incidents, Liu said priority should be given to disaster relief, adding that discussing who should take responsibility at the moment would be irresponsible.
Liu said he hoped to speak with Lo in person, but he downplayed the possibility of speaking with Chiu.
“I have difficulty in communicating with Chiu,” Liu said, but did not elaborate.
Liu also dismissed media speculation that he lost his temper during a dinner with Ma and a number of KMT legislators on Tuesday night.
Several stories published yesterday by Chinese-language newspapers, including the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) and the United Daily News cited anonymous sources as saying that Liu had blamed KMT lawmakers for not supporting him.
“I was not at all emotional. I was very calm,” Liu said yesterday, declining to comment further.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) said yesterday it was considering heightening the security level for bridges managed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, particularly those that have pile foundations exposed to rivers.
In the future, such bridges will be closed if the water level has reached “yellow alert,” meaning the water level has risen to within 1.5m of the bottom of the bridge, the DGH said. Currently, the DGH closes a bridge once the water level has risen to within 1m, which is what the directorate defines as a “red alert.”
The directorate added it would also complete an inspection of all bridges nationwide within a month.
DGH section chief Wu Chin-hsing (吳進興) said that in the past the directorate was reluctant to adopt stricter security standards because of the inconvenience it would bring to motorists.
The directorate also reiterated in a statement yesterday that it had followed standard operating procedures when deciding to close the Houfeng Bridge.
“During the typhoon, DGH personnel took turns monitoring the situation on-site. It’s our responsibility and we did everything we could to fulfill that responsibility,” the statement said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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