The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office is conducting an investigation into the death of a junior-high school girl who fell from the back door of a bus as she traveled home from school on Thursday.
An examination of the bus operated by Keelung Bus Co began yesterday at 8am in a parking lot across from the Ruifang police precinct in New Taipei City, police said, adding that they are checking whether the door was faulty and whether the driver was speeding at the time of the accident.
Police said they are also questioning witnesses and looking into the driver’s history.
Photo: CNA
Initial investigations showed that the ninth-grade student surnamed Su (蘇) boarded the No. 1062 bus that travels between Taipei and New Taipei City’s Jinguashi (金瓜石) with her sister and two classmates to return to her home in the city’s Ruifang District (瑞芳) after school.
At about 5pm, Su, who was holding the back door’s upper handle, fell from the bus when the door suddenly opened during a turn near the 7.3km road marker on Ruiba Highway (Provincial Highway No. 2D).
Su’s sister tried to catch her, but was unable to pull her back into the bus in time, police said.
The 37-year-old driver, surnamed Chen (陳), underwent a blood-alcohol test at the scene which proved negative.
“I heard the kids scream ‘someone fell’ and I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. I nearly started crying right then,” Chen said.
Police said Su and her younger sister were being raised by their father who is divorced and works as a freight truck driver.
Upon hearing about the accident, he rushed to the scene where he burned ghost money and prayed for Su.
Ruifang’s Shangtian Borough (上天) warden Lin Jui-ming (林瑞明) said the father denied rumors that the accident was caused by Su and her classmates’ raucous playing.
The father said that Su’s sister and their classmates claimed they lost their footing because the bus turned the corner too fast, Lin said.
Lin added that he doubted the young girl could have caused the door to open by crashing into it.
Wang Hsu-fen (王淑芬), principal of Keelung Municipal Ding Nei Junior High School, where Su was a student, described her as an industrious student with top grades.
Wang said the school would assist the family in any way it could, adding that it is offering counseling to students distressed by the loss of their classmate.
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