A Taiwanese man is in a stable condition after emergency surgery on Monday for injuries he received during an altercation with four fellow passengers on an express train in Paris, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said yesterday.
The incident occurred at about midnight on Sunday, when three Taiwanese visiting Paris got into an altercation with four other passengers — a witness told police they appeared to be Eastern European immigrants — on a Paris commuter rail train, Wang said at a news conference in Taipei.
“The quarrel continued even as the Taiwanese tourists attempted to get off the train at a station near the Eiffel Tower,” Wang said. “One of the Caucasian men then grabbed an arm of one of the Taiwanese tourists after the train started moving.”
As the man’s arm was caught by the train doors, he was dragged along the platform before falling and sustaining serious injuries, including a broken arm, Wang said.
The injured man was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment and underwent surgery on Monday afternoon, Wang said, adding that despite being in a stable condition, he remained under close observation.
The trio were originally scheduled to return to Taiwan on Monday, Wang said.
Paris police notified the Taipei Representative Office in France of the incident at 3am on Monday via its emergency hotline and asked for translation assistance to take the tourists’ statements, Wang said.
In addition to providing translation assistance, Wang said the representative office also sent staff to visit the injured man at the hospital.
“We have contacted the victim’s parents in Taiwan to inform them of their son’s condition. However, the man insisted that he did not want his family to go through the trouble of traveling to Paris to see him,” Wang said, adding that the office would continue to monitor his condition.
Paris police have reviewed surveillance footage from the time of the incident and taken witness statements, Wang said, adding that they are still attempting to ascertain the suspects’ whereabouts.
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