The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office has listed six people as suspects in a judicial investigation into a fatal train crash on Friday last week.
Fifty people were killed and more than 200 were injured when the Taroko Express No. 408 train slammed into a crane truck that had slid onto the tracks near the entrance of Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林).
The office also summoned six officials at the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Hualien Engineering Section for questioning about alleged illegal business operations and unsafe work conditions by Yi Hsiang Industry Co and Tung Hsin Construction Co, the two main contractors working on the TRA’s safety improvement project near the site of the crash.
Photo: CNA
Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), of Yi Hsiang Industry and the crane truck driver, and his assistant, A-hao (阿好), a Vietnamese worker, are facing charges of “negligence causing death,” Hualien head prosecutor Chou Fang-yi (周芳怡) said.
Investigators said that an audio recording of a conversation between Lee and A-hao suggested that after the crane truck slid down a slope into the bushes, Lee tried to pull it out using an excavator, but the truck only fell farther down the slope onto the railway track.
Lee and A-hao have been detained to prevent them from tampering with evidence, colluding in their testimonies or fleeing the country, Chou said.
The four other suspects — on-site supervisor Lin Chang-ching (林長清), Tung Hsin Construction Co owner Huang Ping-ho (黃平和) and his son Huang Wen-li (黃文利), and construction engineer Yang Chin-lang (楊金郎) — are facing charges of breaching the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), falsifying documents and other charges, she added.
After questioning, Huang Ping-ho and Lin were released on bail of NT$4 million (US$140,667) and NT$3 million respectively, while Huang Wen-li and Yang were freed on bail of NT$250,000 and NT$50,000 respectively.
Prosecutors said that the TRA construction project required a “Grade A” business license to qualify for bidding for the contract, which was won by Tung Hsin Construction.
Lee is suspected of “borrowing” Tung Hsin’s license to qualify as a subcontractor, although he has a record of safety breaches and had been convicted of forgery.
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