Taiwan train crash: Lorry boss offers 'deep remorse'

A construction site manager whose lorry slid on to a railway track and led to Taiwan’s worst train disaster in decades has expressed “deep regret”.

Lee Yi-hsiang, 49, said he was “deeply remorseful” and wanted to give his “most sincere apologies”.

His flatbed lorry was parked on an embankment but slipped down it, causing the train to derail on Friday near the city of Hualien.

At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the crash.

Investigators say CCTV footage from the front carriage showed the train driver had only 6.9 seconds to respond and the train was only 250m (820ft) away from the lorry, not enough time or distance for the driver to stop and avoid the collision.

The probe is now looking into whether Mr Lee failed to set the emergency brake or whether there was a mechanical failure in his vehicle.

He was questioned over the weekend by prosecutors and released on bail, but on Sunday he was taken back into custody because he was deemed a flight risk and had a previous conviction, Taiwanese media reported.

Reading a statement to news crews outside his house, Mr Lee said he would co-operate with crash investigators, and “take the responsibility I should take”. He was then taken away by police.

He was part of a team who regularly inspected Taiwan’s mountainous eastern train line for landslides and other risks. He was also thought to be the flatbed’s operator.

The eight-carriage train was travelling from the capital Taipei to Taitung when it hit the flatbed and crashed inside a tunnel north of Hualien.

The train was packed with people travelling to celebrate a long-weekend holiday, and many of the nearly 500 passengers on board may have been standing because the train was so full.

Some survivors lost their whole families, AFP reports, and Taiwan declared three days of national mourning.

Crews are still slowly and carefully removing the train wreck from the tunnel. There are fears more bodies could be found.

Investigators have been going through the train’s recording devices and CCTV footage from the front carriage, the chairman of the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board told AFP.

“According to the testimonies by some passengers, they heard the horn being sounded and it’s believed the train driver had spotted an object on the track,” Hong Young said.

He added that the train driver, who was among those killed, would have struggled to avoid the crash.

There have been mounting questions over how full the train was, and why there were no barricades on that section of the track.

This lead to Taiwan’s transport minister, Lin Chia-lung, offering his resignation on Sunday. On Facebook, he wrote: “I should have accepted all the criticism over the past few days, but we have not done well enough.”

The government has not accepted his resignation, however, and said he should stay in the position until the investigation was complete.

At least 50 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a train carrying nearly 500 crashed and then derailed in a tunnel in Taiwan.

The eight-carriage train reportedly hit a construction vehicle that had slipped onto the tracks at the tunnel’s mouth.

Rescuers combed badly damaged carriages inside the tunnel to find survivors, some of whom smashed windows to flee.

The train, from the capital Taipei to Taitung, was carrying people travelling for a long-weekend annual holiday.

Many people may have been standing because the train was so full.

The 408 train is one of the fastest deployed on a network that is generally considered safe. It can reach speeds of 130km/h (80mph).

Friday’s crash is Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in decades. President Tsai Ing-wen has sent her condolences to the families of the victims and ordered an investigation.

The latest reports from the National Fire Agency say 494 people were on the train, with 50 dead and 66 injured and taken to hospital.

‘Sudden violent jolt’
The crash took place at about 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT).

Some people at the back of the train were able to walk away unscathed, while 100 were rescued from the first four carriages. Many of the dead, injured and trapped were in four crumpled carriages inside the tunnel.

“It felt like there was a sudden violent jolt and I found myself falling to the floor,” one female survivor told Taiwan’s UDN. “We broke the window to climb to the roof of the train to get out.”

Another rescued woman said: “My whole body fell to the floor. I hit my head and it started bleeding.”

A 50-year-old survivor told Apple Daily she saw many people trapped under their seats and when she walked out of her carriage she saw bodies everywhere.

Local media reports say the train driver is among the dead.

Images show a large, yellow flatbed truck lying at the side of the tracks. A construction project has been under way near the north end of the tunnel.

It is not known how the vehicle slipped down the embankment.

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Survivors on stretchers
Other pictures showed people walking along the tracks with their belongings as they were evacuated from less badly affected carriages.

Other survivors were being carried away on stretchers with their necks in braces.

Enough focus on safety?

Taiwan has an impressive transportation network, including more than 1,000km of railway tracks. The trains transport more than 200 million passengers each year.

Accidents are rare, but this latest derailment — if it was indeed caused by a construction vehicle parked on a nearby slope sliding onto the tracks — would add to a number of recent incidents that have been blamed on negligence and/or human error.

They include:

a train derailment in 2018 caused by a faulty speed alert system and a driver busy talking to the command centre who failed to slow down before entering a curve — 18 people died
a number of deadly fires inside factories that have housed unsafe dormitories for workers
a bridge collapse in 2019 caused by lack of maintenance, which killed four migrant fishermen in a boat
a chemical explosion in 2014 caused by neglect of underground pipelines — 32 people died
This latest accident once again raises questions about whether Taiwan is placing enough importance on safety and preventing accidents.

Many of those on the train are believed to have been travelling to celebrate the Tomb Sweeping festival — a time when people pay their respects to the dead by visiting the graves of family members, sprucing them up and making offerings to their spirits.

The island’s worst crash in recent history was in 1991, when 30 passengers were killed and 112 injured after two trains collided.

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Taiwan train crash: Lorry boss offers ‘deep remorse’

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