Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted two workers on charges of negligent manslaughter when a Taichung MRT train crashed into a crane boom that had fallen on the rail tracks, killing one person and injuring 15 others.
No charges were filed against Highwealth Construction Corp, the project operator of the construction site near the MRT route, and three other companies involved in the incident in May last year.
Highwealth had commissioned Chyi Yuh Construction Co to carry out the project. Chyi Yuh outsourced the tower crane operations on the top floor to United Machinery International Enterprise Co, which later commissioned an engineering company, Chia Yuan, to dismantle the crane structure on the day of accident.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
Last year, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office summoned eight on-site construction personnel involved in the crane operations, along with a train attendant and an MRT platform security guard as witnesses.
Four of them were suspected of committing offenses ranging from endangering public safety to negligent injury and manslaughter, the office said at the time.
The head of Chyi Yuh, surnamed Tsai (蔡), was released on bail of NT$500,000, and the head of Chia Yuan, surnamed Liu (劉), was freed on bail of NT$300,000.
The two workers who were operating the crane, surnamed Lu (呂) and Hsu (許), were released on bail of NT$200,000 each.
Other workers and witnesses were unconditionally let go.
Lu was operating the crane under instructions from Hsu, who did not follow the code of practice and chose to horizontally move the crane when he realized its bolt and rotating disc were stuck, resulting in the diagonal shear that dropped the crane boom onto the tracks, the office said, adding that they failed to pay due attention and committed offenses of negligent injury.
However, due to insufficient evidence, Tsai, the operations supervisor, and Liu — both of whom were working on the first floor — as well as the four companies and the personnel under their charge would not be prosecuted, the office said yesterday.
The Control Yuan had conducted an official inquiry and issued a corrective measure ordering the Ministry of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp to make improvements. The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board completed its investigation in June.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS