Seven defendants charged with causing the deaths of four workers last month at Pachang Creek
On July 22, Taiwan watched in astonishment as a live television broadcast from Pachang Creek, Chiayi County, showed four workers -- three men and one woman -- were swept away in a flash flood after waiting in the middle of the creek for more than two hours to be rescued.
The graphic footage sparked an unprecedented public uproar around the country, resulting in the resignations of Chen Hung-yi (
Following an investigation, the Chiayi District Prosecutors' Office charged seven people with negligence in protecting or rescuing the four workers. The workers had been allowed to work in an area that is highly dangerous in the rainy season.
The trial opened at the Chiayi District Court yesterday. All seven defendants were present, including the contractor and site supervisor of the riverbed construction project, staff members of the Chiayi Fire Department and the National Fire Department and a pilot of the airborne police.
The prosecution charged that the contractor, Chang Yung-hui (
However, both Kuo and Chang pleaded innocent yesterday. They argued that they had been forced to ask their employees to work on the project during the rainy season because they were trying to meet a rigid deadline set by the water conservancy authorities, which had given them the contract for the project.
Kuo and Chang said they had done everything they could to warn the workers of the flash flood after a lookout positioned upstream had told them of the danger.
According to the prosecution, the workers had only been equipped with a 28m-long rope for emergencies while the river they were working in is 80 to 90m wide.
The other five defendants also pleaded not guilty, saying they believe they tried their best to save the workers.
The prosecution blamed two rescuers from the Chiayi Fire Department, saying they had failed to bring equipment that could have helped get ropes to the workers.
However, the rescuers argued they had never been taught how to use the equipment. They said no one in their department has ever used the equipment because they could not read the instructions, which are in Japanese.
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