The head of Taipei's subway system yesterday offered his apologies for his mishandling of a New Year's Eve accident that injured five people, according to the Central News Agency.
"Since 2000, we've seen 200 escalator-related accidents. We will rethink the current policy of allowing passengers in a hurry to walk on the left hand side of the escalator," Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation President Tsay Huei-sheng (
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Five passengers were hurt on the escalators leading to platforms amid the crowds that packed onto trains headed to celebrations held around Taipei City Hall on New Year's Eve. Two people were seriously injured and the other three sustained minor abrasions. One female passenger's hair was caught in the escalator, causing her hair to be torn out and her scalp to be ripped in the process.
According to the corporation's safety regulations, escalators must be turned off if subway platforms become too crowded to prevent accidents. A surveillance tape from the evening of the accident indicates that transit employees failed to shut down the escalators as required.
Tsay said he would accept whatever decision a city investigation handed down, and that he planned to convene a meeting with the injured parties and the to discuss appropriate compensation. He also said that the erroneous reports the transit employees had given on the accident would be investigated. Despite testimonies given by the injured passengers indicating otherwise, transit employees had said that the platform was not crowded and that the injuries sustained had been minor. The woman whose scalp was torn by the escalator received over 100 stitches, but employees reported it to be about 10.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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