Two of the five patients in intensive care following Monday's fatal car crash in New Taipei City's Sansia District (三峽) have regained consciousness, city officials and hospital representatives said yesterday.
New Taipei City Department of Health Director-General Chen Jun-chiu (陳潤秋) told the city council that nine people remain hospitalized following the crash, which left 12 injured and three dead.
Photo: Taipei Times
A 78-year-old driver surnamed Yu (余) caused the crash by plowing into a group of pedestrians near Bei Da Elementary School, local police said.
It is unclear what his health condition was at the time.
The two patients who regained consciousness are junior high-school students being treated at New Taipei Municipal Tucheng Hospital.
Another patient at the hospital remained in intensive care, while one more was recovering from a fracture, the hospital said.
At Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, two of the three admitted patients are still in intensive care, including a student and the driver.
En Chu Kong Hospital said both of its admitted patients are now in stable condition.
One is being treated for dizziness, and the other for a shattered femur.
The driver may have been fleeing from a minor collision with another car, police said yesterday.
Sansia Precinct chief Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said that based on surveillance footage, Yu reversed into a vehicle behind him at red lights on Guoqing Road and Xuecheng Road before speeding through a crowded pedestrian crossing near the school.
It is still unclear whether the earlier collision constitutes a hit-and-run, the police said, as Yu is currently in a coma and cannot be questioned.
A parent surnamed Ting (丁) told reporters that students from the school witnessed the sedan getting stuck on the traffic divider and reversing twice into another vehicle.
The car then sped off toward Guocheng Street, heading in the direction of the school access lane.
Following the crash, reports emerged that Yu had previously been involved in a traffic incident with a pedestrian pushing a baby stroller on the sidewalk of Guoqing Road in Sansia in March 2020.
In response to media inquiries, police confirmed that the driver involved in the incident five years ago was Yu.
Police said the 2020 incident was a case of negligence resulting in injury, but the two parties later reached a settlement, and the prosecutor in charge of the case decided not to press charges.
A preliminary tally found that Yu has had seven traffic violations within the past five years, mostly for parking infractions such as stopping in red zones and double parking.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS