An east-bound express train was yesterday delayed by more than 15 minutes as firefighters and railway staff tried to catch a snake on board.
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said it received a report at 9:56am that a passenger on the train to Hualien had found a snake in the men’s restroom on the No. 2 carriage. When the train arrived at Yilan Railway Station at 10:07am, firefighters boarded the train, but did not find the snake. After being delayed by nine minutes, the train continued its journey to Hualien.
The TRA said the train conductor then spotted the snake again and caught it with the help of the cleaning staff when the train was between Beipu (北埔) and Hualien. They caught the snake in a big plastic bag and turned it over to the Hualien County Fire Department.
The train arrived at the Hualien Railway Station at 11:36am — 16 minutes late.
The train conductor that saved the day was 32-year-old Chu Huan-rong (朱奐榮), who assumed his position two months ago.
Recounting the incident, Chu said he immediately asked passengers to leave the aisle in front of the men’s restroom and worked with the cleaning staff to chase the potentially poisonous snake to the restroom and lock the room from the outside.
The snake has black and white stripes and is about the length of a person’s arm, Chu said, adding that passengers were afraid it might be venomous like a Formosan pit viper or Taiwanese krait.
Chu said he was scared, but was determined to catch the snake so the train could continue operating.
According to the Hualien County Fire Department, it was actually a non-venomous Formosan wolf snake, a nocturnal species that lives in low-altitude forests.
Because of its similarity to the deadly Taiwanese krait, it is one of the most often killed non-venomous snake species, the department said, adding that the snake would be released in a mountainous area.
The TRA said the snake was likely brought on board the express train as a pet by a passenger.
TRA regulations require that passengers place their pets in a container not exceeding 43cm in length, 32cm in width and 31cm in height. While on board, the container must be stowed under the passenger’s seat at all times.
Passengers are required to check in the container if it exceeds the stated measurements. Animals that threaten the safety of other passengers on board, such as poisonous snakes and wild beasts, are not allowed on trains.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS