The discovery on Thursday of bone fragments and personal effects in a burned-out train two years after the Taroko Express No. 408 derailment prompted Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) to apologize yesterday.
The ministry has erred and will seek to ameliorate matters, Wang said after members of a group of family members of the people killed in the April 2, 2021, crash in Hualien County’s Sioulin Township (秀林) found bone fragments, and personal effects, including watches and cellphones, during an inspection of the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) cars.
Fourty-nine people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the crash.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
The ministry on Thursday invited experts on the derailment of a West Japan Railway Co train in Amagasaki on April 25, 2005 — which killed 107 people — as well as family members of those killed in the Sioulin derailment to look through the cars.
Members of the group said they were shocked the TRA had failed to collect everything from the cars.
The Railway Police Bureau and lawyers of the families yesterday combed through the cars and found four more bone fragments, suspected to be from a skull.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office said that it has delivered the pieces to a forensics lab to determine who they were from.
The TRA has not conducted a sweep since the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board concluded their inspections, Wang said.
He said it was a grave matter and highly disrespectful to the deceased that the TRA had not conducted a full sweep.
Wang Wei-chun (王薇君), spokeswoman of Taroko Tears, a group for family members of those who died, said she hoped the discovery of the bones and personal items would help focus public attention on the need for TRA safety reforms.
Finding the items should be a warning to the Executive Yuan that its disaster prevention and processing procedures still need work, she said.
Now is not the time to be pointing fingers, she said, urging the authorities to quickly identify who the bones belonged to and deliver them to their proper resting place — 881 days after the incident.
Chen Peng-nian (陳鵬年), a Taroko Tears member who was in the crash, said many in the group were shocked and saddened at finding the bone fragments.
Chen said he understands how hard the search-and-rescue effort was, and that it was impossible that every body part would be accounted for.
However, the authorities should be more thorough, he added.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
RSS