Dozens Dead and Injured in Taiwan Train Crash

At least 48 people were killed in a train accident in Taiwan. Dozens are also injured.

 

The train with about 500 passengers crashed into a construction vehicle that had fallen off a slope onto the tracks because the handbrake was not applied.

Much of the train was still running through a tunnel. Some wagons derailed and collided with the tunnel walls. Today is a long holiday weekend in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese then travel around the island.

At least 48 dead and more than 60 injured: the balance of this morning’s train disaster in Taiwan is particularly severe. A high-speed train on its way from Taipei to Taitung, in the south of the island, crashed into a truck.

It had ended up on the tracks because the handbrake was probably not applied. The truck was a construction vehicle of the railway company itself. There was no one in the vehicle. The person who parked the car is questioned.

For a while, dozens of passengers were trapped in the wagons, but eventually, everyone was taken off the train. At the time of the crash, much of the train was still running through a tunnel. Images from the disaster show how various wagons in the tunnel have been torn apart or shattered.