TAIPEI – At least 36 people were killed and more than 70 passengers remain trapped after a train derailed inside a tunnel today (April 2).
The express train travelling from Tapei to Taitung carrying tourists and people heading home at the start of the long weekend collided with a truck and came off the rails north of Hualien in eastern Taiwan, reported Reuters.
“It was all dark. The door could not be opened now, [but] we prayed and asked the Lord for peace and to send His angels to protect us and provide a way of escape,” a passenger told Taiwanese media outlet UDN.
Around 80 to 100 people were evacuated from the train’s first four carriages, while the remaining carriages were “deformed” and hard to access.
Based on images captured at the crash site, debris could be found across different places, and the train’s front section was severely damaged.
The Hualien County Police Department head told CNA that they believe the truck driver, who works for a construction company, failed to pull the handbrake and caused it to hit the express train. No one was on the truck at the time of the incident.
Taiwan Railways Company said that it would seek compensation from the construction company.
*More updates to follow.
Sources: CNA Taiwan, Reuters
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
