At least 18 dead in the derailment of a train in Taiwan

TOWNSHIP OF DONGSHAN, Taiwan – One of Taiwan's fastest passenger trains derailed Sunday on a curve taken last weekend, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 170, authorities said. There was no immediate word on the cause of the accident.

The Puyuma Express was carrying over 360 passengers from a suburb of Taipei, in the north of the country, bound for Taitung, a town on the southeast coast of Taiwan, when it came out of the way shortly before 5 pm, the government said in a statement.

Most of the dead were in the first car and it was unclear whether other people were stuck on the train, according to a government spokesman, who spoke of the usual condition of anonymity. . Some passengers were crushed to death, said Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi.

"Their car was returned, they were crushed, so they died instantly," Chen said.

Previously, the government had killed 22 people, but the National Fire Agency, citing the Office of the Cabinet Spokesperson, subsequently reduced this number and called into question a miscalculation. Photos of the scene just south of Luodong City showed zigzag train cars near the tracks. Five cars were turned on the sides.

According to witnesses, they were forced to break windows to escape and the authorities said they released everyone from cars, reported BBC News. A few hours after the accident, one of the eight cars was seen tipped to an angle of about 75 degrees, with all the right side destroyed.

Fearing that people would get stuck under the car, firefighters with lights on their helmets peered under, like a crane ready to overturn it. Firefighters were joined by Buddhist soldiers and charity workers who gathered on both sides of the road.

The soldiers removed the bodies to identify them, but at nightfall complicated the relief work. Through a live stream provided by Taiwan's United Daily News, rescuers were seen carrying away what appeared to be a body wrapped in white plastic away from the site.

At the scene, the researchers crossed a straight car with flashlights. Search and rescue work was to continue until Monday morning to ensure that all passengers were on board, Prime Minister William Lai told reporters shortly after midnight.

"The underlying cause must be investigated as far as possible to prevent such events from happening again in the future," Lai said. "We will make everything transparent."

Ensuring that rail traffic returns to normal is also a priority, he said. Most seriously injured people were injured in the head and another was bleeding inside, said Lin Chih-min, deputy director of Luodong Boai Hospital, where four people were in intensive care. The hospital had treated 65 people in total.

The wreck occurred at a station called Hsin Ma, but it was not expected that the train would stop there.

The Puyuma was launched in 2013 to handle the rugged topography of the east coast of Taiwan. It is different from the high speed train that runs on the west coast. Puyuma trains travel up to 150 kilometers at the time, faster than any other in Taiwan, with the exception of the high-speed train.

The derailed train underwent its last inspection and major maintenance work in 2017, said Lu Chie-shen, director of the Taiwan Railways Administration, at a conference of television press.

Sunday's derailment was at least the third deadly rail crash in Taiwan since 2003.

A popular tourist train overturned in the southern mountains in April 2011 after the fall of a large tree. Five Chinese visitors were killed. A train performing a test ignored a stop sign and crashed into another train in northeast Taiwan in June 2007. Five people were killed and 16 others injured.

And in March 2003, a train derailed near a popular hill station, killing 17 people and injuring more than 100 people. Investigators blamed brake failure.