At least 50 people were killed yesterday in one of the nation’s worst railway crashes, when a train partially derailed in Hualien County after colliding with a vehicle that had rolled down a hill.
Taroko Express No. 408, which left New Taipei City’s Shulin Railway Station and was expected to arrive at Hualien Railway Station at 9:39am, struck a crane truck at 9:28am as the train was about to enter the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林), said the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), which operates the train.
As of press time, 50 people, including the driver and assistant driver, were confirmed dead and 146 injured.
Photo: CNA
One French national was among those killed, while an Australian and two Japanese had minor injuries.
With the train partly stuck in the tunnel, people climbed out of windows and walked along the train’s roof to reach safety.
The train carried 496 people, including four TRA personnel, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told a news conference last night.
Photo courtesy of a reader
The southbound train of eight cars was about to enter the tunnel when the crane truck slid down a nearby slope, colliding with the train’s No. 8 car just outside the tunnel ingress.
The impact partially derailed the train, which continued into the tunnel before colliding with the tunnel’s interior walls.
The six leading cars piled up in the crash and most fatalities occurred in the No. 7 and No. 8 cars, which were crushed from the impact, the agency said.
Photo copied by Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
Hualien County Police Bureau Commissioner Tsai Ting-hsien (蔡丁賢) confirmed that as of 4pm, police were questioning the truck’s driver, surnamed Lee (李), who was not in the vehicle at the time of the crash.
Investigators suspect that Lee did not engage the hand brake before parking the vehicle at a worksite servicing a separate TRA rail line on a hill adjacent to the tunnel, he said.
The TRA said Lee should not have been on the site, as all work on that line had been suspended to avoid crews from interfering with train operations over the four-day Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, which began yesterday.
Photo: New Taipei City Fire Department / AFP
The subcontractor in charge of the work had been informed not to be on site, but Lee, the site supervisor, had apparently decided to inspect the site, the agency said.
Lee’s reason for conducting the inspection on an off-day and for driving about the site in a construction vehicle remains unclear, it added.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) were at the site of incident.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Su expressed sadness and regret for those killed and their families, while Lin apologized in a statement.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had instructed all relevant government agencies to coordinate on relief work and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.
More than 40 countries, including all 15 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, expresssed sympathy following the tragedy.
Additional reporting by Hua Meng-ching, Yang Yuan-ting, Yu Tai-lang and agencies
This story has been updated since it was first published.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS