HUALIEN COUNTY, Taiwan (AP) – Taiwan prosecutors said Saturday they questioned the owner of an unmanned truck that rolled over a railroad track and caused the worst rail disaster in the country in decades that killed 51 people and 146 injured, although no charges have been filed. .
The train was carrying 494 people at the start of a long holiday weekend on Friday, when it crashed into the construction truck that slid down a slope above the tracks, the Taiwan Railway Administration said. Many passengers were crushed just before the train entered a tunnel, while some survivors were forced to exit through the windows and walk on the roof of the train safely.
According to the government disaster assistance center, the truck’s emergency brake has not been applied correctly.
The Hualien County District Attorney’s Office in the east, where the train derailed, confirmed that he had interviewed the owner of the truck, among others, but was not prepared to file charges. Prosecution staff visited a mortuary Saturday to examine the bodies, office spokeswoman Chou Fang-yi said.
President Tsai Ing-wen was due to visit the site later on Saturday.
“We have asked the Transportation Safety Committee to conduct a strict investigation of the accident and, after fully clarifying the cause of the accident, we will explain it to everyone,” Tsai told reporters on Friday.
“We ask passengers to forgive us for the delays,” he said.
Transport Minister Lin Chia-lung said repairs will be accelerated.
“When something like this happens, I’m sorry and I’ll take full responsibility,” Lin said after touring the site.
The head of the Taiwan Railway Administration, Chi Wen-chung, said his team had successfully removed the first derailed wagon from the site.
Two large construction cranes lined up next to the train could be seen as workers examined and removed parts of a remote area of wooded cliffs on the east coast of the island.
Work was also underway to repair the tracks, including the tunnel where part of the eight-car train crashed. The operation should be done in a week, said Weng Hui-ping, head of the railway administration’s news group. During the repairs, all east coast trains will run on a track parallel to the one damaged in the crash, causing delays of 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
The National Fire Service confirmed the death toll, which included the young driver of the newly married train and the auxiliary driver, and said more than 100 people were injured. The government disaster response center said it was the worst rail disaster in 73 years.
Train travel is popular during Taiwan’s four-day vacation to sweep the graves, when families often return to their hometowns to respect the graves of their elders.
Taiwan is a mountainous island and most of its 24 million people live on the flat lands of the north and west coasts that house most of the island’s farmland, larger cities and high-tech industries. . The sparsely populated east, where the accident occurred, is popular with tourists, many of whom travel by train to avoid mountain roads.
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Jennings reported from Taipei, Taiwan.