Scores Die In Taiwan Train Disaster

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Scores of people died Friday in Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in four decades as a passenger train smashed into a truck on its tracks and partially derailed.

Police said at least 36 people were killed and 72 injured in the crash occurring near the island’s Toroko Gorge scenic area around 9 a.m. on a public holiday.

Media reported 350 passengers were on board. The crash came after a truck reportedly fell from a cliff above and landed on the tracks where the train emerging from a tunnel hit it.

“Our train crashed into this truck,” a passenger in the video, which was carried by the Central News Agency. He moved the camera to show a slope beside the tunnel. “The truck rolled down, and now the whole train is deformed.”

With much of the train still trapped in the tunnel, escaping passengers were forced to scale doors, windows, and roofs to reach safety, footage showed.

It was the worst-ever crash for the line connecting Taipei with Hualien since 1979. However, in 2018, 18 people died, and 175 were injured when a train derailed in northeastern Taiwan.

In 1981, 30 were reportedly killed in a collision in northern Taiwan. Friday’s disaster occurred at the start of a long weekend for the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day. It is also Good Friday for minority Christians.

Taiwan’s mountainous east coast is a popular tourist destination. The railway line from Taipei down the east coast is renowned for its tunnels and route that links the coast just north of Hualien, where the crash happened.

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