Six people died yesterday when a tour bus carrying 45 passengers crashed into the side of a mountain along the Suhua Highway.
Ten people were severely injured and five had minor injuries.
The Yilan County Fire Department said that it received a report of the accident at 4:29pm, adding that it is still investigating the cause.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
The bus had been manufactured in January 2018 and had passed its regular inspection this year, the Directorate-General of Highways said.
The driver, surnamed Yu (游), had obtained his license for large vehicles on March 30 last year, it added.
Yu said that the brakes were not working.
New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) Office said that the bus was carrying residents of the district’s Fusing Borough (復興).
Fusing Borough Warden Liu Hung-chu (劉洪珠) had arranged a two-day outing for 160 residents using her own money, the office said.
She had hired four buses, and the accident occurred on the return leg of the trip, it said, adding that the three other buses arrived safely at Suao Station.
Teng Lung Transport (騰龍通運), which the buses are registered under, said that it had only learned of the accident after seeing it on the news.
The trip was arranged through Good Vision Travel Agency Co (好視野旅行社), the company said.
Representatives from the bus company and travel agency visited the site of the accident.
Teng Lung Transport paid each injured person NT$2,000 (US$70.76) and gave NT$50,000 to family members of the deceased.
The Taiwan Transport Safety Board dispatched officials to gather information for an official inquiry.
The crash site, near the 115km marker of the southbound lane, obstructed traffic, but the Suhua Highway traffic control center said the road had been cleared by 8pm.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) had telephoned Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tzu-miao (林姿妙) as soon as he learned of the accident and asked that Lin make every effort to help the injured people.
Hou last night visited the wounded and their family members at the Tri-service General Hospital’s Yilan branch, the report said.
The Insurance Bureau said that those who died in the accident would each be entitled to compensation of at least NT$4 million from South China Insurance Co (華南產險).
That includes a basic coverage of NT$2 million in compulsory vehicle liability insurance and NT$2 million in travel agency liability insurance, Insurance Bureau Director-General Shih Chiung-hwa (施瓊華) said.
Additional reporting by Kao Shih-ching
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies sought to show a united front in Canada yesterday after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and US President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs. The G7 ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face. Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners would be getting a
RSS