Two people died and five people were injured this morning in two car crashes involving 14 vehicles on National Highway 1 in Kaohsiung, police said.
One man aged 50 died at the scene, while a woman in her seventies suffered cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung fire department
Three people suffered severe lacerations to the whole body and shoulder injuries yet remained conscious and were taken to hospital for treatment.
The crashes occurred on National Freeway 1, also known as Sun Yat-sen Freeway, at the 339-kilometer mark near Luchu (路竹) Interchange heading southbound.
One crash involved a chemical tanker truck carrying liquid sodium hydroxide, which flipped on its side.
Initial investigations by the Fifth Police Brigade of the National Highway Police found that at 5:02am a crash involving three vehicles occurred after a truck driven by a 37-year-old driver surnamed Chen (陳) is suspected to have collided with an unidentified vehicle and came to a stop in the outside lane.
A semi-trailer chemical tanker then failed to brake in time and collided with the truck, before overturning and leaking sodium hydroxide, injuring two people.
The second incident occurred at 5:37am at the 338.6 kilometer-marker, also in the lanes heading southbound, involving eleven vehicles.
Currently the southbound entrance at Luchu is closed to all traffic, with police directing all southbound traffic to exit the highway at the Luchu junction.
Although the two crashes occurred just thirty minutes or so apart, initial investigations found no connection, though the cause of the incidents is still under investigation.
The entire section of the highway remains closed and an additional tanker has been dispatched to clear the leaked sodium hydroxide before towing operations can begin.
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