Twenty-eight people sustained minor injuries early this morning after a bus and a heavy truck collided on the northbound section of National Freeway No. 1 near the 33.8km mark in Wugu District (五股), New Taipei City, highway police said.
The crash occurred at 6:52am and blocked traffic until 8am, the National Highway Police Bureau said in a statement.
Photo copied by Hsu Sheng-lun, Taipei Times
Police received a report two minutes after the accident and officers, firefighters and emergency medical teams were immediately dispatched to the scene.
The bus driver and passengers suffered abrasions and minor injuries to their heads and legs.
All 28 people were taken by ambulance to Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital and Taipei Hospital for treatment.
None were in a life-threatening condition, police said.
A preliminary investigation found that the truck driver, a 51-year-old man surnamed Chung (鍾), allegedly failed to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front, and swerved into the outer lane before coming to an abrupt stop, causing a bus driven by a 64-year-old man surnamed Liu (劉) to crash into the rear of the truck.
Two lanes were closed after the crash, backing up traffic for about 3km.
Breathalyzer tests for both drivers came back negative, police said.
The freeway was fully reopened by 8:16am, and traffic has since returned to normal.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, police said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS